


Her Dad's Eyes

by lost_in_a_nebula



Series: Child of the Avengers [1]
Category: Amazing Spider-Man (2012), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, Superfamily, Superhusbands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-01
Updated: 2012-09-20
Packaged: 2017-11-13 07:55:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 62,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/501213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_in_a_nebula/pseuds/lost_in_a_nebula
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony and Steve always wanted children; always wanted to start a family. They didn't expect it to be Tony and Pepper's child.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Tony remembers that night clearer than most, considering he’d been drinking steadily since dinner. It was the night that changed a lot of things for him.

“Tony, I’m pregnant.” Pepper had stated, more confidently than he would have expected with hindsight. He didn’t answer, or move, or breathe – he wasn’t sure it was really happening. “Tony?”

“Sorry, what?”

“I’m pregnant.”

“I heard, I just didn’t want to. What do you want to do about it?”

“I’m keeping it, Tony.”

“Do you want to stay here?”

“If that’s alright with you.”

“Do you want us to be…?”

“I want to be with you, but I don’t want to be with you.”

“Oh oka- no, wait, what?”

“I want to stay here, with you, but I don’t want to be with you.”

“You want to live with me-”

“-but we wouldn’t be together.”

“Would I be allowed to,”

“Be involved in her childhood? If you really want, but you’re not here a lot of the time, Tony.”

“Well, that’s cruel.”

“I think Steve would take more interest in her than you.”

“That’s harshly unjust, incredibly rude and probably true. Wait, her? You can't know the gender yet."

"It's not confirmed. I just _know_ she's a her."

"Don't argue with pregnant women, _don’t_ argue with pregnant women." Tony muttered, to himself mostly.

"What?"

"Nothing, I was just saying, how, pregnant women don't like arguing."

"Course."

"Will Steve get any involvement in... y'know,"

"In the raising of our daughter?" Pepper seemed angry. "Yes. If you think that's what would be best for her, as her father I would let you make that decision."

"Eugh, 'Father', I don't like that word."

"It doesn't suit you." Pepper snapped.

"I always envisioned myself as more of a 'daddy'."

"You're not going to neglect her Tony, you of all people know what's like to have daddy issues."

Tony shrugged, seemingly uncaring about the matter. But he was determined to have an active part in her childhood now.

.

Steve was a little shocked when he found out.

"She's what?"

"Pepper's pregnant, Steve." Tony sighed.

"When did this happen?"

"I don't recall it ever happening, when was I last intoxicated beyond-"

"2 months ago, at that Charity Ball you went to. Pepper went to make sure you _didn’t_ get drunk but it clearly didn’t work."

"Oh, the one with lots of press coverage. Oh damn I do remember it."

"Why did you let it happen?"

"Remember when I said 'intoxicated'?"

"You cheated on me?" Steve whispered.

"Steve I didn't cheat on you,"

"You clearly did."

"I did but think of it this way, there's a child, Steve. We talked about that the other day,"

"Pepper would let me act as father?"

"She's my daughter too, I'm sure my boyfriend is allowed a say in what we do with her."

"We're getting a child?" Steve smiled.

“We’re getting a child.” Tony smirked.

.

"Tony Stark, I hate you, I hate you so much." Pepper screamed.

"I know, I know." Tony winced, his hand near breaking from Pepper's death grip.

Tony never expected to be involved in the actual birth of his daughter - he felt he had too much involvement in the pregnancy, he just wanted to buy all the things a child would need and build lots of toys but no he had to go to pregnant lady yoga classes; the highlight of his day.

"Her heartbeat's slowing." One of the Doctor's muttered. Tony looked down at his own shining heart and wondered if that was anything to do with him. Or whether they were talking about Pepper.

"One more push, Pepper, sweetie, you're doing so well." One of the midwives Tony was supposed to know the name of encouraged Pepper and she screamed, crushing Tony's hand even more.

And then their child was born.

She was whisked away to check her heart was okay, to be weighed and cleaned. Tony kept a keen eye on the circle of Doctor’s on the other side of the room but focused on Pepper.

“You did it, it’s over.”

“Where is she? Where’s my baby?” Pepper panicked.

“They’re just weighing her, calm down.” Tony wasn’t good at ‘reassuring’.

“I want to hold her, Tony, I want-”

“Ssh, ssh, they’re almost done.” They were already bringing the baby to Pepper. Once the little girl was safely in her mother’s arms, Pepper calmed.

“You can go get Steve if you like.” She suggested.

“Okay.” Tony agreed, jogging out to the waiting room to an expectant Steve. Tony couldn’t help but smile at his companion. “Come see her.” They ran back to the ward Pepper was in and crowded the bed a little.

“She has your eyes.” Pepper told Tony. The baby wasn’t crying, just gazing at her mother.

“What’re you going to call her?” Tony asked. Steve was speechless.

“I had a list but I left it home.”

“Well, we were kind of rushing.”

“Lacey was at the top of the list.”

“I like Lacey.”

“I like Lacey too, if it makes any difference.” Steve piped up.

“It’s unanimous – Lacey Potts.” Pepper smiled.

“No middle name?” Steve questioned.

“No.” Pepper and Tony answered at the same time.

“We’d only argue over it.” Pepper added.

“We’re yet to argue over her surname.” Tony muttered, to Steve more than Pepper.

“We’re not calling her Potts-Stark.”

“Just plain Stark would be fine.”

“No way.” Pepper scoffed.

“I like Lacey Potts.” Steve shrugged.

“Steve!” Tony whined.

“Sorry, I mean, Lacey Stark, definitely.”

“Thank you Steve.” Pepper beamed. “Do you want to hold her?”

“But I-”

“No Tony.” Pepper scolded him. Steve took Lacey from Pepper’s arms. “Remember to hold her head.”

“I will.” Steve couldn’t help but smile. Little Lacey seemed so small, drowned in Steve’s muscular arms. Tony put his finger in Lacey’s hand and she gripped it and gazed up at him.

Pepper was right – she did have Tony’s eyes.

“Okay, Tony can hold her now.” Pepper sighed. Steve handed Lacey to Tony and she squealed excitedly; she was intrigued by the light in his chest and started tapping it with her tiny little finger nails.

Pepper began to fall asleep and a Doctor approached again to take Lacey away for some scans. “We think she may have a heart condition sir.” Tony looked over at where Pepper was sleeping.

“Can you do it before she wakes up?”

“Yes Sir.”

“Can I come?”

“Sure.”

“I’ll be back in a bit Steve.”

“Tony,” Steve halted him. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

Tony tapped his heart. “Anything that’s wrong with hers is probably my fault.” Steve nodded and Tony followed the Doctor.

After 20 minutes of scans and tests and listening to his baby cry, Lacey’s analysis was finally done and Tony was relieved to have her back in his arms, soothing her tears.

“She has a heart problem – a hole in the muscle between the ventricles.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s not a serious heart condition, she might not be as strong as other kids and her stamina won’t be good but it’s something she can work on as she gets older.”

“So she’s fine? Really?”

“Yeah, just gotta keep an eye on her. She has an increased risk of heart-”

“Just write a list and I’ll consult it later. I want to be with my family today.” Tony instructed, heading back to Pepper and Steve with Lacey – he didn’t want to hear about her increased risk of heart problems, not today.

Pepper was still asleep when he got back, the lights had been turned down and Steve was nowhere to be seen.

Tony gently let himself down in the cushioned chair in the corner, turning on the desk lamp so he wasn’t in total darkness. It was nearing midnight and the end of Lacey’s first day, even though it’d been maybe an hour since she was born.

She was beginning to quiet and settle, sleeping in her daddy’s arm. Tony had never felt so proud or so protective over something that he hadn’t created before, except Steve. Lacey was perfect – his big brown eyes and tufts of Pepper’s soft strawberry blonde hair that he stroked, sending her off to sleep.

There was a quiet knock on the open door and Tony’s head snapped up to see a beaming Steve.

“I just went down to the shop, but it was closed so I had to go to the one across the road. I just wanted to get her something,” Steve explained, holding a stuffed teddy bear out to Tony. Tony took the bear and placed it between Lacey and his stomach. She instinctively grabbed it and began to cuddle it.

“She likes it.” Tony observed, Steve grinned.

“Great.” He was so happy but he felt a little intrusive – Lacey was Pepper and Tony’s child, but he and Tony had wanted children of their own for such a long time that he couldn’t help but want to make sure they didn’t forget he wanted to be involved too. But Tony could never forget Steve.

“Regarding what Pepper said earlier about surnames – we should let her be Lacey Potts. We’ll suggest Lacey Stark-Rogers when she’s a bit older.” Tony winked.

“She doesn’t need our surnames to be ours.” Steve gently placed himself on the arm of the chair Tony was sitting on. Tony yawned.

“Boy, it’s been a long night.”

“I’ll take her, you nap.” Steve offered, taking Lacey and her teddy from Tony’s arms and pacing the room slowly, bouncing her up and down in a familiar rhythm, making sure she stayed asleep. Tony soon drifted into sleep.

“Well, I don’t know about you but I need a coffee.” Steve whispered to Lacey, leaving the room and heading towards the coffee machine at the end of the hall, entering the correct change and putting the cup in the required position, the steaming hot drink trickling from the machine. He shifted Lacey so she was safe in one arm, taking the completed drink with the other hand, going back to Pepper’s room.

There wasn’t another seat in the room, so Steve lowered himself to the floor, leaning his back against the wall, just watching Lacey sleep – she was a beautiful baby and Steve had never been so excited before; the prospect of starting a family with Tony and Lacey (and Pepper).

A Doctor appeared at the door, looking from Pepper to Tony and finally noticing Steve, the only person awake in the room. “Err; this is the list of heart problems Mr Stark required. I’ve also included everything there is to know about Lacey’s condition.”

“Condition?” Steve questioned.

“She’s got a hole in her heart, but in most babies it heals naturally as they grow. If not we can consider medicinal or surgical correction when she’s older if it doesn’t.” The Doctor explained.

“Okay, thanks.” Steve took the list and the Doctor left. “Who needs them eh? I bet your Dad can make you a super-mega heart protector to get you back on track.” Steve whispered to Lacey, but she was still asleep.

Steve couldn’t tear his eyes away, Tony could be awake and taking pictures to show the other Avengers later and tease him with but he couldn’t have cared less – they’d be the first in the family album. The Stark-Rogers-Potts album.

Steve didn’t sleep that night, and Lacey didn’t sleep for more than 2 hours at a time and he made sure she didn’t make too much noise that it woke Pepper or Tony, who were both sound asleep. Tony was snoring rather loudly but at least he wasn’t dreaming, when people like the Avengers dream it’s often littered with the things they’ve seen, which are rarely pleasant.

Around 6am a Doctor came in to check on Pepper, take her blood pressure, heart rate etc. He also told her about Lacey’s heart, to make sure she knew – the Doctor’s knew what Dads’ were like for not actually telling their wives, girlfriends or partners the important things, for fear that they might not like what they had to hear.

Pepper was calm, thinking along the same lines that Tony would want to do something about it, but she still wanted to take Lacey back from Steve and hold her for a bit.

“Did you stay up all night?”

“Yeah, I just wanted to spend some time with her. I don’t want to take time with her away from you and Tony so-”

“Steve, you’re as much a father as Tony is, any time you spend with her is _your_ time, not taken from me or Tony.”

“But I’m not actually related to her.”

“You are clearly very important to Tony, Steve. Your participation was one of the _first_ things he asked about when I first told him I was pregnant. I personally think Potts-Rogers sounds better than Potts-Stark but Tony wouldn’t let that go.”

“No, I wouldn’t either.” Steve agreed. “Thanks Pepper.”

“It’s nothing Steve. Thanks for buying her the teddy; it’s lovely.”

“It’s the least I could do.”

“You’ve done plenty – I can’t imagine how stressed Tony would have been without you. He’d have built 3 more Iron Man suits and another couple of shields for you no doubt.”

Steve just smiled bashfully; there was definitely times where Tony was really stressed or maybe even scared and Steve had always tried to keep him calm.

Tony began to stir and Steve went and got the list of heart conditions as Pepper requested, so she could read it and know what to look out for.

Another Doctor came in about 7am and told them they were free to leave as and when they wished.

The three shared a look that could only be interpreted as 'let's just go right now' - none of them particularly liked hospitals; hospitals were generally associated with pain.

They were driven home at a leisurely pace, all three shattered from the long night and still overwhelmed by Lacey's existence.

Steve was totally inspired and a little awestruck by what Pepper had said to him that morning - he barely expected her to let him act as father let alone _want_ him to.

And of course he and Tony were probably over-excited about Lacey - they'd looked into adopting other babies and came close to signing for one but then Pepper's pregnancy was announced.

Adopting a child had always been the plan, they'd never wanted to do it any other way but Tony's one night stand with Pepper had suggested otherwise. At first Steve had been deeply hurt by Tony's disloyalty, but as the pregnancy progressed and Lacey finally arrived Steve saw the whole event more like fate - although they may be the strangest family in the world; but Steve, Tony, Pepper and Lacey were determined to be the closest.

They didn't expect such a commotion when they arrived back at Avengers HQ - there were balloons and cakes and huge banner with the word 'Congratulations!' in huge sparkly letters.

"Isn't she adorable?" Clint cooed, in a very un-Clint-like manor.

"She is. You should see her when she's awake." Steve agreed.

"She's got my eyes, just saying, I won on the eyes." Tony piped up.

"Big brown eyes, she'll have all of you wrapped around her little finger." Natasha smirked.

"But not Aunt Natasha, Aunt Natasha will be big and scary and kick her in the ass whenever she does anything wrong." Clint teased.

"Language Barton!" Tony reprimanded.

"And who says she's going to do anything wrong? Maybe she'll be the perfect child." Pepper asked. All the Avengers looked at her with a unanimously raised eyebrow.

"She's Tony's child - she'll be a rebellious teenager." Bruce stated what they were all thinking.

Tony gasped. "Well, I'm greatly offended that you all think that way."

"Natasha, I was wondering if you wanted to be her God-Mother." Pepper smiled at her allied female friend. Natasha softened.

"I'd love to." She smiled.

"Why don't I get a say in this?" Tony asked.

"You can pick her God-Father." Pepper smirked; Thor, Clint and Bruce looked on expectantly.

Tony's eyes widened. "Banner!" He blurted.

"Why me?" Bruce questioned.

"Well, say the two I didn't pick decided to pummel me, I'm less likely to be permanently damaged by the other two."

"I don't want to be a god-father; I'm cool Uncle Clint." Barton smirked.

"'Cool' in the loosest sense of the word." Natasha laughed.

"I am no good with children. I wish to merely observe." Thor smiled down at Lacey in Pepper's arms; observing.

"Sweet. What's her name?" Bruce asked.

"Lacey, Lacey Potts." Pepper answered. An 'aaw' echoed round the room, Tony was pretty sure JARVIS joined in.

"Can I hold her?" Natasha asked, which of course encouraged all the others to ask the same. Pepper handed her over to the Russian as Lacey began to stir.

She started weeping, huge tears rolling down her chubby cheeks as Natasha shushed and cooed her.

"Ha, ha, she doesn't like you." Clint teased. Natasha threw a nasty glare in his direction.

"You're totally in for it later." She growled.

Steve waved her teddy in front of Lacey, placing the toy on her tummy. Her cries subsided and she clutched the bear.

"Papa Steve saving the day." Tony nudged Steve and he smiled, once more bashful. "She really loves that bear - we're going to have to name it." He added.

"Clint! Call it Clint!" Barton squealed, getting way too excited about Lacey's arrival.

Tony turned to Steve. "I think we should just call him Teddy."

"That's rubbish! Call him Clint!"

"It's not rubbish! It's cute. Leave 'em alone, Barton." Natasha teased, relieved they _hadn’t_ agreed to call him Clint - they wouldn't hear the end of it.

"Well, _I’ll_ buy her a toy and call that one Clint - she'll soon decide which is her favourite."

"Teddy's definitely got a good head start." Bruce shrugged, smirking.

"Whatever." Clint huffed, feigning dissatisfaction.

Lacey started to cry again, detracting the attention away from Clint and his name. Natasha held the screaming child out to her mother.

"I think it's feeding time. I'll go," Pepper went to her room with Lacey in her arms, not wanting inappropriate comments on breast feeding, from Clint particularly.

.

It was in the early hours of the next morning that Lacey's screams echoed through the corridors of the Avenger's house. There was moaning and groaning and 'shut the kid up' but Tony had remained awake, returning to his precious work shop once more to make up for lost time the night before.

He ran all the way to Pepper's room, taking Lacey and calming her in the living room. He knew Pepper was still shattered from the whole process of giving birth and he wanted to spend time with his daughter; now was as good a time as any.

Tony made Teddy dance around on her belly and Lacey was content as anything, giggling and gurgling away. Tony was smiling, just content to be with his _daughter_ ; to have a daughter.

It was the one thing he thought he and Steve would never be able to have, but for once he was wrong, and he could not be happier for it.


	2. Chapter 2

“Lacey! Come back here!” Tony squealed, red in the face, running to catch the slippery child, stumbling round the room (she’d mastered walking but running was a bit hesitant), giggling wildly as her Daddy chased her. He grabbed her and sat her back down. “Pee in the potty.” Tony instructed. “I’ll build you a new bike, with extra sparkles.” Tony winced at the use of the word but he knew that’s what Lacey liked. Even if she couldn’t ride a bike yet, most 2 year olds can’t.

“Thparkleth!” She grinned, jumping up again and toddling round the room.

“Maybe not a bike. I’ll give you 2 cookies from Mommy’s special jar if you pee.” Tony bribed again. Lacey just grinned at him. “Okay, Steve can do this.” Tony sighed, standing to go get him – he didn’t think JARVIS was quite as persuasive as him when begging his partner to potty train their daughter.

He got outside the door and heard a faint tinkling from inside, smiling to himself. Moments later he felt a small tugging at his trouser leg; there was Lacey with Teddy.

“There’s a good girl.” Tony smiled, kneeling down and redressing her – Clint hadn’t been best please last time he’d encountered her wondering round half clothed.

“Hey, how’s it going?” Steve asked, turning the corner and seeing them together.

“Somebody’s potty trained,” Tony smiled, picking Lacey up and balancing her on his hip as she cuddled Teddy closer to her chest. “And I, for one, am very proud of myself.”

“No it was me!” Lacey beamed, hugging Tony's neck.

"What is daddy talking about?" Steve enthused.

"Papa, it was me!" She repeated, reaching out for Steve, who took her into his arms. "Papa, come play." she instructed, reaching for the ground and toddling to the room Tony had designated to be her play pen, dragging Steve by his hand.

"I can't right now sweetheart, but Mommy will play!" Steve smiled at her, meeting eyes with Tony, telling him they had business to attend to.

“I’m bored of Mommy.” Lacey whined, teddy half hanging out her mouth.

Tony covered his mouth and met Steve’s gaze, trying not to explode in furious laughter. Steve sent him a supposedly reprimanding glare, trying to tell him to save it for later. He knelt down in front of Lacey and tried to block out Tony’s giggling.

“Daddy and Papa have to go work. But when we get back, we’ll play, yeah?” Steve compromised.

“Uncle Clint?”

“He’s coming too.”

“But Papa,” Lacey began to cry. Steve scooped her up in his arms and hugged her tightly – he hated it when she cried.

“We’ll be back as soon as we can I promise.” Steve whispered. She pushed him away and went to play with her dolls, in the huge dolls house with a working shower, fridge and dishwasher for the little plates that Tony had made.

Steve wanted to cheer Lacey up but he knew they had to leave now. Everyone was waiting on the helicarrier for them.

They returned a mere hour after they left, but it’d been a long fight, Tony had gone straight to bed but Steve had gone to make a hot chocolate to take to bed with him.

“Papa! Will you play now?” He heard a little voice from the kitchen door.

“Not now sweetheart, Papa’s tired.” Steve yawned, patting her head on the way out.

Lacey slept in Pepper’s bed that night.

.

“So just keep your feet going and remember to steer and you’ll be fine.” Tony explained.

“I know Daddy! I’ve ridden a bike before.” Lacey sighed.

“Not without stabilisers! If you scrape your knee,” Tony began to warn but finished his sentence in a lower supposedly unheard tone. “I will not hear the end of it from your mother.”

“Just let me try Daddy?” Lacey asked.

“I’ll guide you for the first bit then I’ll let go, okay?” Tony compromised. Lacey nodded. Tony grabbed her hips as she began to pedal, slowly loosening his grip as she was stable on her own. Tony let go and Lacey was riding on her own.

“I’m doing it Daddy, I’m doing it!” She squealed, beaming and giggling. Tony smiled with her, crossing his arms over his chest as he did when he was relaxed – it was his daughter’s 5th birthday; they were all having a day off.

Unless there was an emergency. Even then, Tony and Steve weren’t leaving.

Tony was drawn from his thoughts by Lacey’s scream and the sounds of skin on concrete, metal bike crumpling and giving way and small girl shrieking as she rolled into a hedge. Tony ran over and hauled her out of what turned out to be a thorny bush. She was sobbing; there was a gash on her knee and her elbow and scratches on her arm.

“Oh baby I’m sorry, I should have told you how to stop.” Tony apologised.

“I know how to stop Daddy.” Lacey corrected him. “Will Mommy be cross with me?”

“No, not you, sweetheart. C’mon let’s get you back inside, get a band aid on those cuts.”

“It really hurts Daddy.” She whined. Tony scooped her into his arms and carried her inside, sitting her on the kitchen counter and getting cotton pads and disinfectant from the first aid cupboard.

“This will sting, but you’ve got to be a big brave girl.” Tony kept talking as he began to dab the disinfectant on her knee. He pulled Teddy out of his back pocket with his other hand and gave the battered toy to Lacey, who clutched it to her chest, leaking tears onto the paling purple material. Tony put a band aid on her knee and her elbow, making sure to use the ones with the Dalmatian puppies on them.

“What a good girl you’ve been. Teddy thinks you deserve to open another present.”

“Yay! Presents.” Lacey cheered up, wiping tears from her cheeks and jumping off the counter, limping a little on the Wounded Knee. But only a little bit, hopefully Pepper wouldn’t notice yet.

They went into the living room and Tony handed her another present.

“Can I give her mine now?” Clint enthused, running to his room to get the present he’d lovingly wrapped the night before, returning with a distinctly bow shaped present. Tony sighed, rolling his eyes at Clint. Lacey was still lovingly unwrapping the first present, having settled herself on Steve’s lap. She began giggling and bopping up and down, hugging her father as she revealed the fluffy, stuffed dog.

She began to play with Teddy and the new yet-to-be-named dog, muttering her own little stories under her breath.

“Hey, Lacey, do you want to open mine now?” Clint asked.

“More presents!” She squealed, jumping off Steve’s knee and sitting cross legged on the floor opposite Clint, who was just as if not more excited than Lacey. She wasn’t quite so cautious with the packaging of this relatively large present, opening it in half the time she’d opened the beloved dog. She’d torn off all the wrapping paper and was looking at the bow with a sense of confusion.

“It’s a bow; you put arrows in it and shoot people, like what I do when I’m Hawkeye.” Clint explained. Lacey jumped to her feet and began pinging the string and muttering ‘pew, pew’ under her breath.

“Clint,”

“Yes, Tony?”

“You’ve not got any arrows have you?” Tony was a little apprehensive; he wasn’t sure how far Clint was willing to go.

“Not yet.” He grinned. “No, no, Lacey, it doesn’t go round your neck.”

“Oh, okay. You can look after it Uncle Clint.” She put the bow in his lap and went to sit in her Papa’s lap, playing with the dog again.

“You do like it right?” Clint asked uncertainly.

“Yeah I do, but not till I can use it properly.” She sighed, acknowledging the lack of arrows.

The day passed with usual birthday celebrations – cakes, singing, presents and a banner that went straight in the trash as it was of no use to anyone ever again.

Clint was putting plates in the dishwasher and preparing to settle in front of the TV set in his room for the night when there was a tugging at his leg, and Lacey was there with Teddy in one hand, the dog now-named Birthday (because of the day he was received) and the bow round her neck again.

"What's up buddy?" Clint knelt down in front of her, taking to bow from round her neck before she strangled herself.

"Where's daddy and papa? I want them to read me a bedtime story." Lacey yawned.

"I'm sorry, they're working tonight Lace. C'mon, I'll read you a story." Clint tried to gloss over the fact Tony had been blessed with a miraculous idea half an hour previously and declared he wouldn't be leaving the workshop for days. Steve followed, loyal as a puppy and determined not to let Tony make himself sick again with over working. Clint picked Lacey up and carried her to her room; she hugged his neck, already beginning to drift into sleep on his shoulder.

"But, Daddy said,"

"Daddy says a lot of things." Clint cut her off, not wanting to hear what Tony had promised her, for fear of getting angry with him.

He sat her on her bed and tucked her under her Iron Man sheets, laying her head on her Captain America pillow.

"Which story would you like?" Clint asked.

"I don't want a story anymore. Thank you for my present Uncle Clint." She muttered, turning over and cuddling Teddy to her chest.

"Night Lace." Clint sighed, switching out the light on his way out.

.

Tony and Lacey were sat in the waiting room at the hospital – she’d had trouble breathing when she was playing with Steve in the gym the previous day and Tony wanted to double-check her heart was still okay. Tony was more worried than he’d ever have liked to admit but he didn’t want Lacey to think he was worried; she was quite content in swinging her legs between the chair and the floor.

“When you’re done, do you want a toy from the machine?” Tony asked.

“Dad, I’m six not four.”

“Thor? Well, I don’t think he’d want one either.”

“You’re not funny Daddy.”

“I beg to differ."

"Daddy, when can I go home and play with Papa again?"

"We'll be done here soon then you can play with Papa. He was a bit worried about you yesterday."

"We were just playing chase."

"Maybe you should play with Birthday and Teddy again this afternoon, save the running for later."

"But Teddy's still recovering from his surgery, Daddy, you said he wouldn't be able to play till tomorrow."

"Maybe you could just play a sitting down game-"

"But I don't want to play a sitting down game-"

"No 'but's,"

"Daddy,"

"Lacey!" Tony shouted, drawing the attention of the parents around him, smiling at them diplomatically and turning his attention back to his daughter, her bottom lip trembling. "You know what Mommy and I told you about your heart? About how sometimes you have to go a bit slower and do less running?" Tony calmed, Lacey didn't answer. "We're just worried about you, sweetheart."

Lacey crossed her arms over her chest and stuck her bottom lip out defiantly - she definitely inherited her father's determination.

"Lacey Potts?" A nurse called, they went into the doctor's office and he ran tests that Lacey was familiar with by now - they listened to her heart beat, took a sample of her blood to check it was oxygenated enough and many tests that she didn't understand.

They sat down opposite the doctor and he have them a friendly smile - Tony saw straight through the smile and just wanted the information he held.

"There's nothing immediately wrong that we can see, but it's more than likely Lacey just overdid it a little bit. I recommend a few days rest and then she'll be as right as rain."

"Okay, thank you." Tony smiled graciously at the man, leading Lacey out to the car and driving home. Lacey was quiet.

“Sweetie, I’m sorry for shouting.”

“It’s okay Daddy.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m going to see if Mommy will play tea parties with me when we get home.” Lacey suggested. “A sitting down game of tea parties.” She repeated Tony’s earlier words.

“I’ll play tea parties with you, if you want.”

“Really Daddy? Will Papa play too?”

“Yes, your Papa and I will play tea parties with you, we’ll get real cookies and everything.” Tony smiled, glad to see Lacey so excited again.

She cheered excitedly and began planning who else would come to the sleepover – Teddy was top of the list (despite his surgery), followed by Tony and Steve, then Birthday and Jemima, the duck Pepper had bought Lacey last time they went shopping.

They played tea parties all afternoon. Steve and Tony were both shattered afterwards, but Lacey was happy.

.

“But Mom, _please_!?”

“No, sweetheart, you’re doing fine with Tom, you don’t need to go to middle school.”

“I’m at the right age to start middle school! I want to be with other kids,”

“You’ve got Uncle Clint,”

“Kids my age! I know Tom’s great but I want to be a normal kid.”

“You’re not a normal kid Lacey,”

“Why not? Because my Dads’ are in some superhero alliance? Because I have three parents? Because I’ve never been to school?” Lacey shouted, silencing her mother for a moment, causing JARVIS to alert said father’s that the argument was occurring. “Do you think I’d care about that? I know how to pin these kids down to the ground in a second, but I wouldn’t have to. I just want friends, Mom.”

“You’re 11 years old; you do _not_ make decisions like this.” Pepper continued to argue. “You are _not_ going to middle school.”

“Mom please?!” Lacey begged.

“No, and don’t even _think_ of running to your Dad because I will not let him over rule me on this.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what’s going on?” Tony jogged into the room, expecting a fist fight and blood but he then remembered it was Pepper and Lacey not Clint and Natasha fighting.

“Dad, I want to go to middle school.”

“Why? School’s boring.” Tony shrugged.

“I want friends!”

“You have friends! The new guy in computers loves you, he thinks you’re great.”

“He’s 42! I want friends my age!” Lacey began to shout again.

“You don’t need school to make friends.”

“But I want-”

“Sweetie, you’ve got an IQ higher than your average 11 year old, okay? Going to middle school will just hold you back. Speaking as the genius I am, I think it’d be best for you to stay here, and be educated here.” Tony knelt down in front of her, keeping his tone calm and pulling out the ‘I’m a genius, my word is law’ argument.

“But, Daddy, please,” Lacey whispered, pulling out her own weapon; tears.

“Sweetheart, it’s what’s best for you. Come here.” He instructed, pulling her into a hug – she hugged him back, so she wasn’t angry. “Better?” He pulled away.

Lacey nodded and trudged out of Pepper’s office, probably to go try and sweet talk Steve.

“I’m sorry Tony, I just, she wouldn’t fit in, it’d be no good for her.” Pepper sighed, her head in her hands.

“I know. You did the right thing.”

“Okay.”

“I’ve gotta run, we’ll chat later.” Tony ran back to his lab to finish what he’d been starting with Bruce.

.

The Avengers were out on another mission, Pepper was busy trying to sort PR for the 6 of them and there was no one else to keep Lacey entertained. She’d been brought up in the gym environment with her heroic family so it was familiar to her, as she got older she began to use it for her own gains.

She was fed up of her heart condition slowing her down. The Doctor had said if she slowly increased the amount of exercise she did then she’d be able to keep going for longer.

She’d been working with the punch bag for the past thirty minutes; she was angry, angry with her Dad and Pop, her Mom, everyone for leaving her to make her own entertainment, no one to keep her company. She was in one of those moods where she only stopped when she was struggling to breathe, when she reached that point she sat on the edge of the boxing ring and put her elbows on her knees, peeling the gloves off her hands and throwing them 5 feet in front of her, waiting till her breathing steadied before she decided what her next move would be.

On days like these she often ended up in front of the targets with her bow, but today she found the bow Clint had given her for her 5th birthday, 10 years ago. She tried to aim it but it was too small to get a decent shot. She picked up the bow she used now, shooting three straight tens in quick succession.

“Take that Stark.” She muttered. Her parents didn’t know she referred to them by surname, but when she was angry it was more satisfactory than Dad, Papa and Mom.

Tony had never taught her how to aim a gun, but she knew where they were stored. She went to the arms cupboard, taking a hand gun and a long range rifle – the longer bowel more fun to shoot with. She used the same target and shot three bullets with the hand gun, using her right hand to shoot and her left hand to steady herself, though she was a perfect shot anyway.

“Lace, they’re back.” Her Mom shouted from the door. Pepper knew it was easiest to let Lacey calm herself down and avoid her when she had a gun in her hand.

“Okay.” Lacey shouted back, dropping the gun and running her hands over her face and through her hair, slamming her closed fist on the closest wall and balancing her forehead on the cold metal. She rested there for a moment then straightened up, putting the guns away and going to greet the others, pretending nothing had happened. __


	3. Chapter 3

At first Lacey trained a lot with Clint – he was the most enthusiastic and she loved spending time with her Uncle Clint, which is why archery was her biggest strength.

Natasha soon joined in, trying to teach Lacey some of her fighting and defence skills. Lacey put up a good fight with most of the Avengers, she’d beaten her Dad before, but there was no way she’d beat Steve, Thor or Clint, or Bruce when he was the Other Guy. Natasha let her win sometimes.

Thor couldn’t teach Lacey anything using Mjolnir, but he could teach her how to manipulate weapons, to throw them and catch them and use them in a way that meant she could wound or severely confuse anyone who engaged in combat.

Steve had a similar problem to Thor - he gained the majority of his skills through the administration of the serum and there was no way ever that he'd let anything like that enter Lacey's blood stream, but he helped train her, helping her get control of her heart and improve her endurance. He helped her build strength and muscle and some of the things being a soldier taught him.

Bruce didn't want to get into the boxing ring with her as the Hulk, no one wanted that, so he taught her in the science lab. After the archery with Clint, spending time with Bruce was her favourite - she inherited her father's intelligence and loved learning and discovering. Tony taught her on a similar basis; mechanics and how to keep control of the Iron Man suit, should she ever need to don the metallic attire.

She had a small part of each of the Avengers imprinted into her and she loved that each of them had made their contribution to shape who she became. Of course she'd spent a lot of time with Pepper too - more recently she'd been going to meetings and press conferences and learning how to keep a disaster under wraps, moulding cover stories and providing enough evidence to the press to make them believe it. Lacey did enjoy the time spent with her Mom, she really did, but she much preferred the physical activities.

She'd finished her official high school education with teacher Tom when she was 14, it was only then she really realised that her parents had been right about Middle School when she was 11. Ever since then she'd learnt more with Bruce and Tony than any other 18 year old in school - she had hands on experience in a familiar, home-like environment. But neither Bruce nor Tony had ever let her conduct her own experiments, never let her try to create her own machinery. She had ideas, hundreds of ideas that she wrote in a small, green leather bound notebook. Tony didn't want her to become what he had; he didn't want her to be involved in the Avengers. Not yet at least.

Lacey had argued with her mother regarding going to university to further her knowledge in biology and sciences but Pepper wasn't sure - there'd be lots of questions about her age and why she was so young and had the qualifications of someone with 3 years on her age. Most teenagers of 14 or 15 years of age didn't go to University. Lacey understood that, but that didn't mean she'd stop trying. If she was the right age there was no reason she couldn't apply for Harvard of her own accord. Sometimes she thought of how proud her Dad and Papa would be if she got into Harvard, and that pride overruled her Mom's yearning to keep her at home.

At 18 she was at an age where it was acceptable and encouraged to go to university. Lacey was ready to buckle down and get back to the books – she hadn’t done an official exam since she was 14, the last set she did all came back as straight As; her grades weren’t stopping her.

But at the moment studying wasn’t an option; she ended up spending all day most days in the gym, if not training with one of the Avengers, she was completing her own fitness regime, spending hours at a time using the exercise bike, running on the treadmill, using the selection of weights and mats and gymnastic equipment to help her improve her fitness and flexibility to help her fighting.

It was another one of those days where the Avengers were being called to help defend New York City, as they did on a regular basis, but they weren’t just fighting one enemy – the army of the enemy were spreading all over the city.

Lacey had stopped taking interest in all their enemies by name – not even the mind of Nick Fury could retain all of those names – she just knew no one would be home for hours, and the facilities she was using were silent bar the noise she made.

But she wasn’t as angry as she was when she was 15 – she understood it was their jobs and she couldn’t fault them for doing what they’re told they have to do. Pepper often quite enjoyed avoiding her job to check on Lacey for 10 minutes.

Next to her Mom, Lacey felt like she spent too much time training – Pepper always wore pencil skirts and pretty blouses and nice heels whereas Lacey usually wore skin-tight leggings or shorts and sports vests, if she wasn’t training she was wearing sweats and baggy shirts she stole from her Dad’s wardrobe. If she _really had to_ she wore a pair of jeans and a decent shirt, maybe even a blouse, but only if she had to.

Pepper was executing one of her ‘I’m just going to check on Lacey’ excuses and visited her daughter in the gym.

“Hey, sweetie, how’re you doing?” Pepper asked.

Lacey stopped pedalling on the exercise bike, climbing off it and wiping her face with a towel – working up a sweat as she usually did. “Good. Really good actually. How’s it looking with Dad and Pops and everyone?”

“They’re fine. They’ll be back soon actually.”

“Really? I thought I heard Coulson say they’d be gone over night.”

“No, they’ve got to come back and prepare for,” Pepper stopped; she wasn’t meant to tell Lacey.

“Prepare for what?”

“Err,”

“Mom…?”

“We have a, a guest, of sorts, coming to stay with us,”

“Us specifically or in the AHQ building?”

“AHQ building.”

“New Avenger?”

“Yes.”

“He or she?”

“He.”

“Rubbish. Poor Nat.” Lacey sighed, wondering over to the archery range (where she always ended up) and daring to use one of Clint’s more advanced bows while he wasn’t here.

“I better get going. Just don’t expect to see much of anyone today; Coulson’s doing a spot check of every room to make sure it’s tidy before he gets here.”

“Wait, do I have to tidy up in here?” Lacey asked, grimacing.

“Yep.”

“Why? Whoever this guy is it sounds like he’s staying, and if he stays he’ll never see any of these rooms tidy again.”

“It’s about first impressions – if everything’s a tip it might put him off.”

“If he wants to be an Avenger it won’t be about how tidy the place is, he’ll have already made his judgement based on news reels and articles online.”

“However true that is, we want to make him feel welcome, and walking through 3 feet of rubbish won’t make him feel at home.”

“I’ll push everything to the sides, he’ll be fine.”

“And put Clint’s bows away before they get back – you know he doesn’t like anyone else using them.”

“Mom,”

“Yes, Lacey?”

“Can I talk to you about something later? It’s kind of big and I know you won’t like it but I need you to hear me out,”

“Okay, but later. I really have to go.” Pepper rushed. “We’ll talk later, I promise, sweetheart.” Then she was gone.

“Hey, Mom, Bruce told me about a serum like Papa’s that he’s working on. He calls it the Vaccine and he’s almost finished it. I want to volunteer to help with his experiment because it might help this hole in my heart and make everything a little bit easier, y’know? But you’ll say no because it might kill me, ripping each cell in my body to shreds one by one. Eugh.” Lacey screamed, firing the arrow she’d been holding and missing the target completely. She dropped the bow; she was too tense. She was working herself up again and she needed to calm down.

She tried to take deep breaths and control her breathing, her heart rate was escalating beyond what she was capable of calming. She picked up the bow and fired another shot, only hitting a 4 on the target. She grabbed another arrow from the quiver on her back, lining it up lightning fast and trying to keep her hand steady and aim for a ten. She couldn’t keep her hand still, she was still worked up and angry and she didn’t even know why.

But then she felt the familiar breath in her ear, the familiar guiding hands of Hawkeye. “Relax, caress the string, and go.” Clint whispered. She released the arrow and hit the ten she desired. “And remain calm, chill the hell out, and _put my bow away_.”

Clint growled, in the friendliest possible way.

"Sorry, yours are more ornate and powerful."

"And this is why they're mine."

"My 19th birthday will roll around sooner rather than later, Uncle Clint."

"I told you not to call me uncle anymore."

"I'm only teasing."

"I know."

Lacey put the bow back and the pair of them went to sit on the matted area of the floor; Lacey started stretching and Clint started doing sit-ups.

"So why is there a new Avenger all of a sudden?"

"We've been keeping tabs on him for a while. We invited him to join us. How do you know about that?"

"Mom accidentally let slip earlier."

"Stark said either to tell you to be at the meet 'n' greet at 9 or not to bother showing up at all. He's an intelligent bloke - Banner is beyond excited."

"I was hoping it'd be a girl, keep Natasha company." Lacey shrugged.

"You could join us."

"Pops would never let me."

"He would."

"I've not got any powers-"

"Neither do I, nor does Nat or your Dad, in fact."

" _Or special skill_! You didn't let me finish." She pouted.

"You're a gifted fighter; you should put it to good use."

“But I have a rubbish heart.”

Clint shrugged. “It’s getting better.”

"Let me find my special skill, and then you can let me join your crew."

"Crew? Avengers... Crew? Are you kidding?"

"The word Avengers is over used around here; I have a collection of team related words that I will use instead of Avengers." Lacey gave her argument.

"But still! ’Crew’ makes is sound like we're in a crappy hip hop movie."

"Oh god, Dad in a hip hop movie." Lacey laughed, imagining her father in traditional baggy pants and trying to roll around the floor. Clint smirked.

"I reckon we should get out of here before someone tries to make us tidy up." Clint looked at the door, hearing hurried footsteps and voices outside; everyone was busy.

"We could do that thing where we go sit on the roof again." Lacey suggested.

"I almost got strangled for taking you up there."

"You can say you found me up there, I went up of my own accord?" Lacey tried to bribe her favourite uncle.

"Fine." Clint agreed. "Leading them to the fire exit that went to the roof; that's where they started climbing. It didn't take them long to reach a place where Tony would need the suit to come get them.

"I've been meaning to talk to you actually, Banner was telling me about this Vaccine he'd created."

"Oh yeah, he told me about that." Lacey tried to avoid the subject.

"Something told me he had. You're not thinking of volunteering are you?"

"Course not!"

"It just sounded like something you'd be interested in - genetic science has always been your thing. And with Steve I thought,"

"I might be interested now though." Lacey teased.

"Stop it. You don't need to be changed, you're fine the way you are."

"Fine?"

"Great, perfect. No one here wants you to change, not Bruce, not anybody."

"I guess." Lacey still intended to have this conversation with her mother later.

"You're going to have to help us train-"

"Really? I do enough with you guys."

"You're like the on-site personal trainer."

"Since when? I thought you were training me?"

"Yeah but you got better, it's a mutual thing now."

"Hardly - I still lose."

"Not quite as badly as at the beginning through. You're a good sparring partner."

" _Clint Barton you bring my daughter down here right now_!" Pepper screamed from the fire escape roof.

"It totally wasn't me!" Clint argued as Lacey began to climb down.

"It was his idea, I said we should tidy up the equipment in the gym but he said no." Lacey said as she reached her mother.

"You lying little toe-rag." Clint muttered.

"Clint, go clean the gym. Lacey, go clean your room." Pepper instructed.

"No way, this new guy will not be going into my room!" Lacey argued.

"It's a tip. Go." She pointed to the door and they both trudged inside.

"This is so your fault." Clint muttered.

"Yeah but she thinks it's your fault." Lacey smirked.

"I hate you." He scowled.

Lacey giggled and turned down the hall to her room, shoving most of her clothes in the washing basket and lying on her bed. "JARVIS, can you put Queen's Greatest Hits on, please."

"Yes, Miss." JARVIS answered as Bohemian Rhapsody began to play.

Lacey began to sing under her breath as she lay on her bed, jumping up to perform the guitar solo on her knees a minute later.

By the fourth track Lacey was bored and decided to go find her Dad in the workshop. She wondered through the tower and into the workshop, expecting him to be working on the Iron Man suit.

"Dad, are you tidying?" Lacey questioned.

"It was Fury! He told me to."

"You've never tidied this place. Or any place for that matter."

“I can tidy! I can do, err, domestic things. If I have to.” Tony sighed, looking around at the mess that only seemed to be growing. “This is why the human race develops – we create quicker methods of doing things, we create machines to do things for us, to save time and energy.”

“If you save any more energy you’re going to get fat Dad.”

“Being Iron Man uses lots of energy. I’ll just do that.”

“Talking about creating machines to do things for us, have you made one that’ll make my heart work better yet?”

"Sweetheart, there is nothing I can do for your heart. Even if I could it would require surgery to install it and your Mom doesn't seem to think I'm qualified to operate on you." Tony stopped 'working' and hugged Lacey.

"I'm fed up of being slowed down."

"If you even consider going to ask Banner for the Vaccine I will," Tony stopped, unsure what his threat was actually going to be.

"You will what?"

"I don't know. We'll work on that later. But Bruce won't give it to you."

"You're the second person to tell me not to do it today."

"Because it's a stupid idea. Tomorrow morning, the new-"

"I know, new Avenger."

"You're either to turn up on time or not at all, you got that? He's young, impressionable, he might think we'll let him get away with being late."

"You would, you're never on time."

"Hey,"

"You're not."

"I arrive precisely when I intend to."

"I'm going to go find Mom."

"Control room at 9 tomorrow Lace, you got that?"

"Yes Dad." Lacey sighed. It seemed today was one of those days when everyone thought she was seven again and not one of the most intellectually capable teenagers of her generation.

She found her Mom working hard, sending emails, receiving phone calls, as she always did.

"No, no, you know what he said! You either do- No, don't interrupt me! My daughter's here, I'll talk to you later." Pepper sighed, hanging up and smiling at Lacey. "Are you alright, honey?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to ask you something."

"Oh yes, this big thing. I'm listening and open minded." Pepper smiled but it seemed mechanical. Lacey thought about how Clint had told her she shouldn't ask Bruce, Tony had said no - her Mom was never going to agree, even if she was open minded.

"It's not that big really. I just wondered if I could go out tonight - there's an Under 21 night down town."

"That's fine Lace, as long as you're presentable for tomorrow."

"I know, I know. I don't know why we're trying to impress this guy, he can't be _that_ important." Lacey shrugged.

"Lace, this is quite an important deal. If he agrees to stay, then the team can be stronger." Pepper explained. Lacey rolled her eyes, bored of all the talk of the new boy. "Sweetie, you've never met this guy, don't judge him yet."

"I'm not! I'm just," Lacey stopped before she went on full rant. "It doesn't matter. I'll see you later." Lacey left Pepper hanging.

She didn't want to sound like a spoilt child, but if everything continued this way when whoever-it-was got here, then Lacey would see even less of the people she lived with. She went back to her room and put her ear phones in. "JARVIS, can you put the room in lock down please?"

"Yes, Miss."

"Can you stop Dad's password from working?" Lacey asked - she knew her Dad had installed a special touch pad outside her room so he could get down, even if it was in lock down.

"Yes, Miss."

"Please don't tell him, JARVIS, I just need to be alone."

"Of course, Miss."


	4. Chapter 4

Lacey woke up the next morning still lying in her clothes from yesterday. She looked over at her clock.

8:57 am.

“Shit.” She whispered, rolling out of bed, taking the majority of the covers with her. She ran into the bathroom, brushing her teeth and attempting to flatten her hair at the same time. She pulled her jeans out from her bottom drawer and didn’t realise until she was pulling them on that they were the super-skinny ones she had vowed never to wear again. She sighed, yanking them up her thighs and pulling the nearest T-Shirt over her head, running into the door as she did. “Eugh, JARVIS, undo lockdown please.” She whispered, rubbing her elbow. There was a small click as the door unlocked and she was gone, running down the hall to the control room.

It was at least quarter past nine when she got there.

“Oh, and this is my daughter, Lacey,” Tony introduced, wearing his taking the press on a tour smile. Lacey flashed her equivalent smile through heavy breaths at the man Tony was holding the elbow of; tall, gangly even, long brown hair and brown eyes hidden behind glasses that he had pushed up his nose twice now.

“Hi,” She held out her hand, maintaining her sculpted smile.

“Hey, I’m Peter,” He took her hand and shook it, not letting go. Lacey slipped her hand out of his distracted grip and wiped it on her leg – either she was sweaty from her run or he was nervous.

“What do you, err, _do_?” Lacey asked; he didn’t look particularly muscly, she wondered what benefit to the Avengers he would be.

“Oh, I’m Spider-Man.” He smiled, proud of this fact.

“Oh, wow, congratulations, on that.” Lacey answered awkwardly. She didn’t know what to say next.

“Err, you’ve got some,” Peter began, pointing at his own chin and staring awkwardly at Lacey’s. She put her hand on her chin and found a spot of toothpaste, wiping it off and blushing furiously.

“Thanks.” She muttered.

“Lace, why don’t you give Peter a tour?” Tony suggested. He received only daggers in response.

“I’d love to, but I’m kind of busy, right now,” Lacey lied. She checked Pepper wasn’t around. “Mom wanted me to-”

“I’m sure she won’t mind. Go show him our gym facilities and the kitchen. The kitchen’s great.” Tony instructed.

“Shame none of us can cook.” Clint laughed.

Lacey sighed. “Okay.” She reluctantly agreed with her father’s request.

She trudged out of the control room and Peter followed her, hiking his back-pack up his shoulder again and looking round the room in awe.

"That's the medical room, the guys are normally in there after a mission, avoiding there is good. That's the trash room; most of Dad's old Iron Man stuff is in there, Pops doesn’t want him to throw it away so he keeps it in there." Lacey explained as she went passed each room.

"Dad and Pops?"

"Tony and Steve."

"Are-?"

"Together? Yes."

"Oh."

"Is that not public? I don't know, I rarely leave this tower. I go to parties sometimes, that's about it."

"Parties? Do your friends have lots,"

"I don't have friends."

"Oh, I'll be your friend, if you want."

"Okay." Lacey smiled, trying to keep him sweet. She'd heard about Spider-Man being sarcastic and sassy, but Peter seemed shy and nervous; she was kind of bored of him. "Anyway, that's the gym and the goes on for the rest of this corridor."

"Really? That's huge."

"The gym's huge. There's your traditional gym equipment then there's a shooting range for Clint and there's a boxing ring and there's even some gymnastic stuff, Natasha used it a lot after the Olympics was on."

"Wow." Peter mused. They reached the stairs.

"One floor up is the kitchen, the living room and what used to be my play room when I was little. Above that is labs and Dad's workshop and top floor is bedrooms. Dad and Pops are right at the end, I'd avoid that post 11pm on non-mission days, next is Clint, then Natasha, then Bruce and then Thor. I presume the nearest one is yours." Lacey explained as they got to each floor

"What about you? And everyone that works here?" Peter asked.

"Me and Mom are above you guys, but it’s a tiny floor compared to anything else, it barely counts. And the employs are either on the floors between the offices and the control room or off-site. Fury and Coulson have rooms on the Avenger floor - Dad's been known to throw the occasional late night party and Fury is the first to stop it."

"If Iron Man and Captain America are your Dads', who's your Mom?"

"Pepper Potts, Dad's secretary."

"Ah."

"You alright?"

"It's a lot to take in."

"I'll show you the fire escape to the roof if you like."

"What's on the roof?"

“The helicarrier landing pad and there’s the astronomy tower that Bruce uses sometimes. There’s barely ever anyone on the roof. Well, just me.”

"Maybe I'll come join you." Peter smirked; the first sign of flirting he'd shown. Lacey raised one eyebrow.

"Just before you get any ideas - my Dads' and my Mom are on site." She shrugged, walking away towards the fire escape. Peter laughed and jogged after her.

"Wait, can I drop my bag in my room?"

"Sure." Lacey leaned against the wall and Peter ran off down the stairs.

She picked at her nails while she waited. She was normally quite good at judging and understanding people but Peter wasn't making sense - one minute he was timid and the next he was making a move on her? She just wanted him to show some of his characteristic sass and get it over with. He was soon jogging back.

“So you’ve shown me 5 floors, and some of the other floors are for employees and I passed 2 office floors – what’s the rest?”

“Experimentation stuff – labs, more workshops, the simulation room, the-”

“Simulation room? Are you kidding me? This is insane.” Peter’s eyes widened; he was more than impressed with the Avengers tower.

“You get used to it after a while.”

“Have you lived here your whole life?” Lacey nodded. “You’ve never lived in a real home?” Peter seemed shocked.

“This is my real home.” Lacey snapped. “Just because my home isn’t the same as what you call home doesn’t mean it’s not a ‘real home’.”

“I didn’t mean-”

“If you don’t feel like you’re at home yet, or you don’t feel like you’ve settled in yet, that’s fine – you’ve been here 10 minutes. But a lot of people have been to a lot of trouble to try and making this place welcoming. _Everyone_ was tidying yesterday, everyone was freaking out, because of you. So maybe that’ll make you feel better.” Lacey shouted, Peter’s arrogant comment annoying her. He seemed shocked and remained silent.

Lacey rolled her eyes and left him to it, hopefully he wouldn’t be able to find his way back to the control room and would be stuck wondering these corridors for a few hours until JARVIS tried to help and scared the living daylights out of him.

“Lacey, please,” He called after her. She stopped and turned. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.” He stated cautiously.

“I’m listening.” She sighed, asking him to further his reasoning for his apology.

“I grew up in what would be classed as a ‘normal’ neighbourhood – 2 storey house with a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, a couple of bedrooms and everyone I went to school with grew up in the same environment. I just can’t imagine living here.”

“Just to destroy whatever image of a ‘normal’ childhood you may think I had; I’ve never been to school and I’ve been surrounded by heroes my whole life. Oh, Pops makes a mean pasta bake though.”

“I may have to call him up on that. So we’re cool?” Peter asked, a more relaxed smile settling on his features.

Lacey took a second, just to look him up and down and gauge how genuine he was being – he was still smiling at her and he’d put his hands nervously in his pockets.

“There’s a lot of people trying to help you fit in here, but there are some things that you’ve just got to _know_ to do.” She ignored his question almost entirely. She pulled his hands from his pockets. “You’ve got to look more confident and less hesitant. Spider-Man is known for being sarcastic and a bit sly – I don’t know what Peter’s known for but Peter _is_ Spider-Man! Have a bit more confidence, man.” Lacey smiled at him.

“Yeah, we’re cool.” Peter chuckled, answering his own question. “Sorry, I’m just nervous. This is _the_ Avengers, and I was asked to join – the kid bitten by a mega-spider.”

“Dad and Bruce were really excited to meet you – Dad wants to know how you made the things on your wrists and Bruce knows how clever you are; the three of you will have lots of fun in the labs.” Lacey laughed.

“Not you?”

“I wouldn’t want to interrupt.”

“You’re the daughter of Tony Stark; do you take any interest in mechanics?”

“They don’t let me do anything in case I do something that might make me into an Avenger. Bruce has been working on an experiment which he’s called the Vaccine, it’s a bit like the serum they gave Pops but more subtle. Both Clint and my Dad have told me not to even ask him if he’ll give it to me. I could make my own hence; why they don’t let me do anything.”

“Can you fight?”

“I’ve trained with all of them. I finished my education 3 years ago; there’s not much to do round here but train. But,” Lacey almost told him about her heart; she’d only just met the guy. “Doesn’t matter.”

“You’ve impressed me.”

“With what?”

“You – intelligent, strong, clearly independent; I’m surprised you’re not one of them.”

“I don’t want to be. When I can; I’ll get out of here.” Lacey admitted. “How old are you, Peter?”

“21. I’ve been Spider-Man for four years now.”

“The Youngest Avenger.” Lacey mused, opening the fire escape door and going onto the roof as she’d decided she would earlier.

“The view from up here,” Peter mused, admiring the beauty of the New York skyline.

“Sometimes that landscape is the only thing that’s kept me sane. Being cooped up at the centre of super hero activity for such a large portion of your life, it can drive you crazy. When you’re just on the fringes of involvement – you watch and spectate, observe those you love getting hurt.” Lacey spilled her heart out, _again_. Something about this young man she’d just met made her want to tell him everything; she felt comfortable. She’d only ever felt that way with her parents before.

“It’s beautiful.” Peter agreed.

“We should probably go back.” Lacey sighed. “Your tour is complete. You’re probably going to be whisked off by the others for one reason or another, but meet me up here at 7 tonight – you think this is beautiful? Try watching the sunset.” Lacey smiled at him, excited.

“It’s a date.” He smirked, flirting once more.

“It’s a time and a phenomenon. My parents are still on site, Spidey.”

Peter laughed, giving Lacey and moment to leave the roof before he went back down to the control room.  Lacey went one of the smaller labs that she’d adopted as her own – Bruce didn’t use it, Tony didn’t use it, none of the students or employees used it. There were three high-spec computers that Tony had installed, and Lacey wanted to do some research.

She googled Spider-Man.

Some fan-boy had made a list of every fight he’d ever been in and everyone he’d ever defeated. Someone had even drawn artwork of Peter in his costume and there were many debates and forum pages arguing over the true identity of Spider-Man – no one had suggested Peter, surprisingly enough.

The she googled Peter Parker. Nothing much came up – a facebook profile, a few twitter identities and a Professor doing cancer research. But Peter had left his facebook settings open – she could take a look at his profile without adding him as a friend. There was nothing particularly special to discover there - he's 21, he finished high school, he was unemployed and he was single. Nothing special.

Lacey knew she'd find out most when she could get him in the ring, gauge how strong he was and how quick his reactions were. But until then she was mostly clueless. She could quiz him a little bit when they were watching the sunset that night, but until then she had nothing to do.  
She turned off the computer and wondered into the living room, sitting on the couch and feel drowsy all of a sudden, recalling her bad night sleep and her early morning. She lay on the sofa and drifted into sleep, hoping that everyone was so occupied by Peter's arrival that they wouldn't disturb her.

.

"Lacey! Lacey!" Pepper was shouting at her, shaking her.

"What?" She yawned, not wanting to be interrupted.

"Your Dad wants you in the workshop. JARVIS has been trying to wake you up; we thought something might be wrong." Pepper had clearly been panicking.

“No, I’m fine Mom I swear. I just haven’t been sleeping well.” Lacey tried to wipe the sleep from her eyes and stood up, smiling at her Mom. “What did you say Dad wanted?”

“He wants you in the workshop – something to do with needing more than 2 hands to show Peter everything.” Pepper sighed, running her hand through her hair – the whole ‘New Avenger’ concept was running her off her feet; she was a bit stressed.

“Of course, okay.” Lacey mused, still waking up.

“Go!”

“I’m gone.” Lacey jogged out the room and up to the workshop.

“Ah, Lace! Great.” Tony enthused the moment she walked in.

"What do you want me to do Dad?" She asked.

"You know I was teaching you how to use the Iron Man hand? I'm trying to teach Peter how to prevent being hit by it; I can't teach and shoot at the same time." Tony was all but jumping up and down and clapping.

"I thought we started training tomorrow?" She questioned, looking from Peter (who looked mildly terrified) and her Dad.

" _You_ start training with him tomorrow. I thought I'd get a head start." Tony reasoned. Lacey didn't get it but if she told him that she'd never be able to leave again.

"Sure, okay." She agreed, putting the forearm of her Dad's suit on and standing where instructed, shooting at the terrified Spider-Man as and when instructed.

From what she could observe, Peter was agile, no denying it; he slipped away from the beams with mere inches off having his hair singed. He even managed to giggle a little and shout "Is that the best you've got?" at Lacey.

"Iron Man is not my forte."

"So what is your forte?" Peter began to chat, still swinging from his webbed strings and avoiding Lacey's shot.

"I've not found it yet."

"I'll help you look. Have you checked the kitchen? It's probably right at the back of the fridge. You could get lost in that thing." He smirked. That was the sarcastic, patronising tone she'd expected from the beginning. The petty comment made her smile. “You have a pretty smile.”

"Could we save the flirting for later?" Tony asked, sat in his battered old chair with his feet up on the counter, eating a banana and playing with a tablet. Lacey stopped shooting.

"How're you helping him by sitting there?" She tried to remain straight faced, but her Dad couldn't have been trying to look more innocent.

"Well, you two are getting along better, so I did that."

"We weren't not getting along. And you had no hand in 'helping'."

"You're openly flirting. Save it for later, please." Tony rolled his eyes, trying to change the subject.

"Can I go now?" Lacey asked. "I was having a nice nap. You interrupted."

"If you must." Tony sighed. "Can I look at your shooters Pete? It's an intricate piece of technology I've been _dying_ to look at since you got here." Tony continued as Lacey left. Peter unstrapped one of the shooters and turned to Lacey.

"We're still on for tonight, right?" He looked so hopeful and eager that Lacey couldn't help but smile at him, _again_.

"Sure." She agreed. He turned to look over Tony's shoulder, making sure he wasn't taking his creation apart. Lacey left, not wanting to invade their nerd-fest.

.

It was 6:55pm when Lacey headed for the roof, not wanting to Peter to arrive before her and be on his own. She sat on the wall and swung her legs over, dangling them over the side of the building, looking at the 30 floors below her, getting a minor vertigo sensation.

She checked the clock on her phone, 7:08pm. He was late. Lacey cast the thought from her mind - it wasn't a date, merely a suggestion that he joined her. She didn't _really_ care if he didn't show; it wasn't a date.

She distracted herself by watching the phenomenon they'd agreed to observe together - the burning orange sky leaking onto the fringes of the clear blue; no clouds in sight.

Even if she didn't like being cooped up in a tower, she did love the view the tower provided. Lacey loved her New York City and could never bring herself to leave, whenever she did break the barriers of the HQ.

She watched a couple on the roof of an office building 2 streets away - he'd been setting up a table with candles and bringing up food. He'd disappeared for five minutes and reappeared with his partner. Lacey was waiting for the proposal - an event this ornate couldn't merely be a dinner date; it was big.

She got bored of people-watching and checked her phone again - 20 minutes had passed. He clearly wasn't as interested in the skyline as she'd assumed. She swung her legs back round, safely onto the roof and stood; her hands in her pockets, ready to leave. But looking out over the city she couldn't bring herself the leave until the sun was truly set and the stars sparkled in their places.

She pulled her hands from their warm confines and placed her elbows on the wall, leaning comfortably while the sun sunk over the horizon.

It'd almost completely fallen and the moon was clear and bright when Natasha joined her.

"Bloody hell, those boys can drink. _Don’t_ leave me alone with them and a crate of beer _ever_ again, kay?" She whined, mimicking Lacey's pose and leaning on the wall too.

"Sorry, I wasn't invited. Pops doesn't like letting me drink."

“I know. What’re you doing up here?”

“Peter was supposed to meet me. He must have been distracted by the drinking party.”

“Oh. It’s getting dark and late, we should probably go back in.” Natasha suggested, standing up and heading towards the door. “You coming?”

Lacey sighed. “Sure.”


	5. Chapter 5

Lacey was determined to get back in to her regular routine the next day – it didn’t matter if there was a new kid around, Peter wasn’t going to interrupt her workout regime. Well, maybe he didn’t, but she interrupted his.

He was there when she went into the gym – running on the treadmill with his headphones on, wearing a baggy pair of shorts and an even baggier t-shirt. He wasn’t running slowly but he was panting, clearly tired. She didn’t know how long he’d been there but he clearly been working up a sweat.

“I think someone’s trying to kiss up a little bit.” She called out to him. He stopped the machine and pulled his earphones out.

“What?”

“Early morning gym session? I thought you weren’t training till later.” Lacey asked.

“I need to bulk up a bit – everyone’s very muscly here.”

“Two things – one; my Dad is not muscly, just the Iron Man suit is, he built the six-pack in, and two; a treadmill is not a good way to bulk up.”

“I was just warming up.”

“I’ll help you bulk up if you like.” Lacey offered.

“I thought you were training me?”

“There are 6 Avengers. Each of whom will want to teach you some of their skills. You don’t need me relaying their information on top of that. It’ll stress you out, I promise.”

“You sound like you’re speaking from experience.”

“I’ve grown up with them; I’m definitely speaking from experience.”

“What’re you offering? Some sort of training programme or counselling?”

“Depends what you want Spidey.” Lacey shrugged, leaning on the arm of the treadmill he was on. Peter didn’t answer her request. “How was the drinking party?” She asked, trying not to sound petty that he’d stood her up. She didn’t mind really – she’d had a nice evening on her own.

“I’m sorry I didn’t meet you, I didn’t find the opportunity to leave. If I’d have said I was meeting you I’m sure Tony and/or Steve would have stopped me or they all would have accused me of taking an interest in you and-”

“Peter, I just asked how your party was. Natasha implied you were all drinking, how’re you not hung over? Clint is or he’d be down here, Bruce doesn’t drink, Pops can’t get drunk, Natasha doesn’t see the point in getting drunk, they daren’t let Thor drink and Dad always drinks.”

“I didn’t drink that much.”

“There’s an empty crate, a crate can hold 40 bottles. Someone was drinking them, Dad won’t have had more than 6, Clint maybe 8, Pops 2 or 3, Natasha had just the one – that’s 18 tops.”

“I only had 3.” Peter surrendered.

“That’s only 21.”

“Did you have any?” Peter asked with a broad smile, knowing full well that she hadn’t. “Okay, maybe I had 5 or 6, I’m like your old man, it doesn’t affect me. I don’t know where the other 16 bottles went, but I know your Mom had one when she nipped in to try and stop Tony drinking anymore, Fury and Coulson both had one.”

“That’s still 13 AWOL.”

“There was an employee party downstairs.”

“If there was an employee party I’d know.”

“It was a secret one – the honourable Captain America must have given them the 13 remaining bottles to spice up their party.” Peter concluded. Lacey didn’t say anything; he’d proved her wrong. “Should have let me finish, Stark.”

“Potts, actually.”

“Not Stark? Or even Stark-Rogers?”

“Potts.”

“I’m surprised.”

“Sorry, Parker.”

“How about you then, _Potts_? Do you want a training session from Spider-Man?” Peter smirked; teasing her again.

“What? You’re not-”

“I’m sure there’s something I can teach you.”

“You want to fight me? You know I’ve fought with Natasha; _the_ Black Widow, right?”

“Did you win?”

“I didn’t lose that badly.” Lacey muttered, walking from the treadmill to the boxing ring. “I assume you’ll want a softer landing when I kick your ass?”

“Was that kick or kiss?” Peter questioned, putting his hand around his ear.

“Just cause you want both.” Lacey sneered.

They stood opposite each other in the ring – the toned daughter of Iron Man and the gangly Spider-Man. “Are you ready?” Lacey asked, positioning her clenched fists in front of her face – typical starting position. Peter mimicked her and nodded, not taking a word she said seriously. He threw the first lazy punch and Lacey caught it, spinning him and pinning his arm behind his back. He kicked her shins and she loosened her grip the tiniest of amounts, giving him the window to free his arm. She jumped towards him and he fumbled to grab her hands, she wrapped her legs around his neck and brought him to the floor in traditional Black Widow style. She stood, leaving Peter on the floor. Lacey assumed she’d won and didn’t remain poised.

So Peter shot a web at her hand, forcing her back and attaching her to the corner of the ring. He ran at her and she ducked the punch he was throwing, putting her other hand on the rope and using it as a bar to jump and kick him in the chest with both feet, knocking him backwards coughing. She tried to pull her hand from the post but it was stuck fast. He stood in front of her again and started throwing quick punches, she blocked as well as she could with one arm, trying to aim another decent kick but Peter was keeping a keen eye on her feet.

Lacey began to pant and Peter smirked, thinking he’d won. Lacey stopped defending and Peter kept hitting her.

“Peter, stop,” She whispered and he did. She was breathing heavily – her heart couldn’t keep up.

“Are you alright?” Peter was beginning to get concerned.

“It’s just, my heart,” Lacey muttered through her attempts to breathe in the lungful’s of air she was inhaling.

“It’s not like Tony’s is it?” Peter asked.

“No.” She slumped to the ground, one hand remaining glued to the post. Peter pulled the two apart, sitting cross legged opposite Lacey and picking bits of web from between her fingers.

He waited as she sat with her head between her knees, waiting to be able to breathe comfortably again.

She stood and smiled at him apologetically. “Sorry, I’m still working on my stamina.”

“What happened?”

“I’ve got a heart thing,” Lacey didn’t specify. “There’s a hole in my heart, it can’t work quite as hard as a normal heart can. So having to fight with one hand wasn’t the best of ideas.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s not your fault. That’s the first real fight I’ve ever had. Everyone else is scared they’ll break me.”

“You want me to completely disregard your health every time we fight?”

“If you could.” Lacey smirked. “Not completely. Just stop when I say.” Lacey smiled. “It won’t kill me.”

“If you’re sure it won’t do you anymore damage, I’ll fight you properly.” Peter shrugged.

“Really? You won’t let me win?”

“You were beating me anyway.”

“Thanks Peter.” Lacey was surprised, but his smile and words were genuine.

“Have you ever flown before?” He asked, taking a step closer so she had to look up to hold his gaze as he completely changed the direction of conversation.

“No.”

“Hasn’t Daddy taught you to fly yet?”

“Shut up. I’d need the arc reactor to do that anyway.” Peter grabbed her round the waist before she’d finished speaking and flung them up in the air, swinging from the ceiling using the strings shooting from his wrist. Lacey clutched his neck and he laughed, not expecting her to lose her cool when she was in the air. When she felt she was safe, she smiled, enjoying the sensation of being in the air, ideas of her own way to mimic it swimming in her mind.

She watched Peter’s expression as they swung with ease, releasing each string and creating a new one without looking. He turned to her and smiled, making Lacey blush.

“Peter, put her _down_.” Tony yelled, jogging into the gym. JARVIS must have told him what they were doing. More like he was asking for reports every 15 minutes.

Peter released their current string and they hit the boxing ring, rolling and tangling themselves further.

“What were you doing?” Tony asked.

“I asked what it was like to fly and Peter offered to show me, Dad.” Lacey lied – she didn’t want Peter to get into trouble.

“No, I asked him.” Tony corrected, glaring at Peter; a light blush had reached his cheeks and Lacey hoped he could come up with a decent lie.

“I was just showing Lacey how they worked sir.” He gestured to the machines on his wrists.

“Don’t do it again, it’s not good for you Lacey.” Tony left again and Lacey scowled at his retreating figure.

“See what I mean?” Lacey climbed out the ring and headed towards the gymnastic equipment, sitting on the balance beam and climbing on, walking up and down the small platform.

“Is there nothing that can be done about it?”

“I can have surgery but it might not work. The doctor’s say it’s manageable so they don’t think it’s worth the hassle.” Lacey explained. “It’s better than it used to be – I couldn’t run on the treadmill for five minutes, now I can manage about twenty.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, I know. Everyone here can run for an hour or two but most of them use the weights anyway.”

“Is that why you spend so much time in here?”

“Most of my time in here is spent flat out on my back trying to breathe. It’s quite peaceful – the others don’t actually spend all that much time in here, not all at the same time anyway. Bruce never comes in, Dad rarely.”

“Do you live in here?” Peter raised a sceptical eyebrow.

“There’s nothing better to do. Though Dad just brought a grand piano for the living room so I might start teaching myself.” Lacey thought out loud.

“So there’s not much to do round here?”

“Well yeah, but I’ve done it all to death. There’ll always be someone to take you under their wing – Coulson loves showing off his vintage Captain America cards and if you ever want to discuss security; Fury’s your man.”

“What about you?”

“I’m the slave – get this, do that, make me a coffee, spar with me, shoot me, y’know; the usual.”

“You seem to know a lot about everyone else’s training.”

“They don’t like fighting with each other, so they fight with me.”

“You seem like a good person to talk to, Clint certainly likes talking _about_ you.”

“More than Dad and Pops?”

“No, but they’re your fathers’, they don’t count.”

“Mom’s good to talk to. If you ever want to talk about the stresses of work, she’s a great listener.”

“So if I want to look at pristine collectors cards I’ll go to Coulson, security is Fury, if I want anything I ask you and if I need a chat I go to your Mom?”

“That’s about it. Don’t ask me to get spiders out the bath though – insects are my weakness.”

“Spiders aren’t insects.”

“They’re small and creepy with lots of legs; I don’t like them.”

“You’re scared of spiders?”

“Shit, I’m talking to _Spider_ -Man.” Lacey sighed, cartwheeling off the beam and wondering off the mat, looking blindly for something to do but deciding against it and turning to face Peter instead.

“It’s alright to be scared. I’m a little bit scared of Thor.”

“Everyone’s a little bit scared of Thor.” Lacey agreed, Peter chuckled.

“What I’m trying to say is; being a bit scared sometimes is alright.”

“You don’t take offence?”

“I’m not an _actual_ spider – I only have two legs, I’m not small, I’d like to think I’m not creepy. Do you like me?” He was flirting again; Lacey didn’t want to roll her eyes this time.

“I don’t dislike you. I only met you yesterday; I assume friendships take more than a day to form.”

“I think there’s something here, definitely.” Peter nodded, gesturing from himself to Lacey.

“The last boyfriend I had threw himself on me at a party, then almost threw _up_ on me later.”

“Why’d you go out with him?”

“When you don’t go to school it’s harder to meet guys, so you’ll take whatever offers itself.”

“And if I was offering myself?”

“We’re in a work environment – an office romance isn’t appropriate.”

“Not appropriate or you just don’t want your Dad to find out?”

“I’m more concerned about Papa’s reaction, actually.”

“No father wants their little girl to grow up.”

“What about your parents? I haven’t heard much about them.” Lacey tried to change the subject.

“Left me with my aunt and uncle when I was little, Uncle Ben died. Aunt May’s doing okay, I’ll send some of my income back to her.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s been a long time, I’m fine with it.” Peter shrugged. “Okay so, I think we’re done for today and I want to go for a shower. I’ll see you later.” Peter smiled and left. Lacey was back to not understanding him; he was flirting, sure, but she didn’t get if he was serious or not – the whole thing seemed very sarcastic.

She went to the treadmill, intent to put her iPod on and just run, but Peter had left his iPod with his water bottle. She wrapped the earphones round the device and left it there – it was an excuse to get into his room later, maybe have a bit of a nose around.

.

Pepper usually used the employee kitchens over the Avengers one upstairs, but she and Natasha had decided that everyone needed to eat more healthily, so they were cooking.

(Tony had been sure to buy more ready meals to fill up on later)

They were making a roast dinner – the chicken was in the oven and Natasha and Pepper were chopping, peeling and cutting vegetables.

“Peter seems like a nice guy.” Pepper sighed.

“He and Lacey seem to be hitting it off well. They were in the gym together for ages this morning.” Natasha agreed.

“Hmm.” Pepper was deep in thought – she’d been thinking about her daughter and Spider-Man and their growing relationship in great detail.

“Thoughts?” Natasha questioned.

“I don’t think dating him would be what’s best for her.” Pepper admitted, not afraid to talk about them, knowing that Peter was with Bruce in the lab and Lacey was chatting to Steve on the roof.

“Is that influenced at all by your fling with Tony?”

“Only a little bit. Relationships with superheroes are flaky, especially when the Avengers are on call 24/7. You can be in the middle of an important conversation, they’ll be buzzed in and they _have_ to go. I want something more stable than that for her.” Pepper explained.

“I still think she’ll be loading into the helicarrier with us one day.” Natasha shrugged.

“I’d rather she dated Spider-Man.” Pepper snapped.

“She’s capable of fighting with us. Her stamina is the only thing that would slow her down.” Natasha mused, ignoring Pepper’s objections.

“She’s not having Banner’s vaccine. I’m not letting her in one of Tony’s suits and certainly not in one of those spandex costumes.”

“Pepper, we are safe out there – if anything happened, we’d cover her. There’s 7 of us out there now.” Natasha tried to reassure Pepper.

“Lacey wouldn’t be able to handle one of your fights Nat; her _heart_ couldn’t handle it. I don’t want her in the medical wing.”

“Pepper, have you ever considered that you might worry too much?”

“I know. I know I do, she’s 18! She can make her own decisions. I just don’t want to let her go.”

“She’s your only girl – it’s okay to be a bit reluctant to let her grow up. Has she brought up university again recently?”

“No, but I think she may have been researching. She was on the computer in her lab for a while yesterday, but she encrypts her history so I can’t read it.”

“You shouldn’t read her internet history Pepper, that’s definitely crossing the line.” Natasha was a little creeped out. Pepper shrugged. “Why don’t you just talk to her?”

“She’s reached an age where her private life is private from me and she just won’t tell me anything – she closes up.”

“And she opens up with Tony and Steve?” Natasha asked sceptically.

“Not Tony, but she tells Steve everything. Must be something about 40s style parenting.”

“Or the lack of technology – Steve still jumps at JARVIS sometimes.” Natasha and Pepper laughed.

“I’ll talk to her.” Pepper decided. “And Tony – I think he’s scaring poor Peter.”

“Definitely – he’s already trying to replicate Peter’s technology.”

“He’s a bit full on. And Pete’s only 21 – he’s probably a bit blown away by the scale of the Avengers initiative.”

“If not the scale of the building; it took me two weeks before I knew my way round this place. “

“Oh, and thanks for going to get Lace off the roof yesterday.”

“No problem – any excuse to leave. I was vastly outnumbered and Clint was getting dangerously close to being slapped.”

“I’ve not seen much of him today.”

“He’s mostly been sleeping off the hangover.”

“Oh.”

“The real work will start tomorrow – with Peter settled in, the training begins.”

“Who’s in with him first?”

“I am.”

“Throw him in the deep end and toughen him up.”

“He was fighting Lacey this morning – I’ve got a lot of work to do.”

“Did she thrash him?”

“No, because he stuck one of her hands to the post in the ring.”

“That’s cheating.

“Exactly.”

Steve walked into the kitchen, pinching one of the carrots Pepper had just peeled and smiling sweetly at her, walking towards the crockery cupboard, getting a glass and filling it with water.

“Is everything alright Steve? I thought you were with Lacey.” Pepper inquired.

“I was. We’ve been up there for ages. Peter came up; they’re on the roof now. I didn’t want to interrupt.

“She’s with Peter again? Oh.” 


	6. Chapter 6

“Pete, Nat – we’ve got to go.” Steve interrupted their training.

Peter glanced at where Lacey was sitting in the corner. She smiled reassuringly at him and nodded. He smiled nervously and left. When he was gone, Lacey got up and bolted for the living room – real-time news coverage was the best way to watch Avengers fights.

“There’s a riot in down town New York today – a large robotic structure is destroying surrounding buildings and smashing cars. No one is yet to be reported dead, but- oh, and the Avengers have just arrived on the scene!” Lacey muted the TV before the presenter starting trying to describe the fight.

The robotic creature was huge and solid but slow. It was about 30 feet tall; it had a huge box shaped body with a semi-spherical head attached on top. The legs were small and barely held the thing up. Iron Man was the first to arrive, shooting blindly at the thing, not knowing where the creator or driver was located. Thor appeared on what could only be described as the robots shoulder and began banging away on the back of his head with Mjolnir. The head rotated and Thor accidentally smashed what must have been an eye. Black Widow landed next to Thor, having leaped out of a nearby window and climbed in the empty eye socket. Thor jumped to the ground, beginning to bash its feet with intent to stop it from moving. Lacey noticed Hawkeye poised on a nearby roof and Hulk join Thor in trying to stop the robot walking. She couldn’t see Captain America or Spider-Man. The robot stopped and some sort of hatch opened in the leg of the robot and 20 people – soldiers – began filing out. They wore metal helmets and carried guns; as far as Lacey could tell their vests and pants weren’t bullet proof. But they didn’t quite look right; they weren’t minions, hostages or volunteers, that’s for sure. Lacey was barely sure they were human.

Captain America joined Thor and Hulk on the ground, fighting the infantry off. Precisely aimed arrows and laser shots flew from Hawkeye and Iron Man in the sky. But where was Spider-Man?

As if on cue, a speedy blue and red suit zapped past the cameras and into the action.

He was swinging between the same two buildings maybe 100 yards in front of the robot, which took another step forward, barely avoiding its own soldiers. Spider-Man continued to swing, beginning to form a more identifiable structure; he was spinning a web. The robot was speeding up, having passed its rapidly decreasing number of soldiers and crushing empty cars.

“C’mon Peter.” Lacey muttered, her heart beginning to race – it was going to be close.

Peter finished his web netting with just enough time to get out the way before the robot crashed in a sticky mess. Peter began to swing again, securing the struggling metal. He was half done when the thing slumped, it’s power source destroyed. Black Widow emerged moments later with a partially conscious man. Spider-Man grabbed him and escorted him to the ground, where the police swarmed to arrest him. Spider-Man went back for Black Widow and headed for the helicarrier, not far behind Iron Man with Captain America in tow. Hawkeye was running across building tops until he reached the ready and waiting helicarrier. Thor and Hulk were finishing off the scattering soldiers and leaving the scene of the crime for the Police to clear up.

Within 10 minutes they were all filing into the living room. Lacey turned the TV set off and stood greet the others.

“I’ve never heard a man scream so much.” Tony laughed.

“I should have pushed him off and let him fall to the ground.” Peter agreed.

“You probably shouldn’t have told him how to improve the robot.” Natasha smiled.

“It needed to be more agile! Did you see how slowly it was moving?”

“The web thing was a great idea, Pete.” Clint added. Peter grinned, pulling awkwardly at his suit, fiddling with the mask in his hand, wanting to get changed.

Thor and Bruce were deep in their own conversation and Steve was clutching his arm and grimacing.

“You alright, Pop?” Lacey asked.

“Yeah, s’just a scratch.” Steve forced a smile.

“Let me see.” Lacey instructed, moving his hand – the ‘scratch’ was long, deep and already healing, but it was messy. “Let me clean it up.”

“Lace-”

“Papa,” She interrupted sternly. “Or Dad will freak out.” She added, glancing at him laughing and chatting with Clint, Natasha and Peter.

Steve nodded and they slipped away, unnoticed.

.

Lacey had Steve sat on the medical bed with his suit rolled down to his waist. She had a bowl of disinfectant and cotton wool, cleaning the wound and watching it slowly heal before her eyes.

“Better?” She asked when she was done.

“Much.” Steve smiled, pulling his suit back on.

“Do you want me to sew your arm back up again?”

“If it’s not too much trouble.”

“What else have I got to do?” Lacey joked.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

“You seem subdued.”

“I’m fine.”

“Nothing to do with Peter?”

“No. Why would I be subdued about him?”

“I don’t know, he’s a boy your age, I just wondered if-”

“I don’t have a crush on him Pop! He’s Spider-Man, why would I? No.”

“You’ve been spending a lot of time with him.”

“Because you guys are always busy doing something else! No one ever has time for me.”

“That’s not fair – I spent 2 hours up on the roof with you yesterday.”

“You had me pencilled in your diary for 2 weeks!”

“We worked very hard Lacey, we have demanding jobs.”

“Lots of parents have demanding jobs!”

“Most parents don’t have the safety of a city, a country, a _planet_ on their shoulders.”

“Oh, I’m sorry Papa, are you a bit stressed?” Lacey pouted sarcastically.

“Hey! Stop it.” Steve stood, knocking the bowl of disinfectant to the floor.

“What’re you going to do, ground me? ‘Cause I go out that much anyway.” Lacey remarked snidely.

“That’s enough, young lady.” Steve reprimanded sternly.

There was a knock on the door. Peter popped his head round, his smile fading as he sensed the tension.

“Are you two alright? Am I interrupting something?” He asked, totally innocent to the previous argument.

“No.” Lacey muttered, leaving through the now-open door; argument unfinished.

Steve sat back on the medical bed sighing, running his hands through his hair.

“Do you want me to talk to her?” Peter offered.

“No. Just let her cool off; she’ll be fine later.” Steve disregarded it, not wanting to discuss parenting with Peter. “That was a good fight, Pete.” Steve smiled, patting him on the shoulder.

“Are you alright?” Peter asked, pointing at the rip and the fading pink mark.

“Fine. She cleared it up for me.” Steve left and Peter was a little awe struck and confused – he didn’t know what had happened between Steve and Lacey but a big part of him knew he should go find her and check she was okay.

Peter went to her bedroom, assuming she’d retreated there to feel sorry for herself or get angry or whatever she did when she was upset. He knocked on the door; no answer. He went inside, gently calling her name, but she wasn’t there.

“JARVIS?”

“Yes, Mr Parker.”

“Where’s Lacey gone?”

“I was requested not to reveal her location, Sir.”

“Oh, okay.” Peter sighed, leaving her room and heading for the living room.

Only Bruce was in there, watching reruns of their adventure earlier that day. Peter left again without alerting him. He tried the workshop but only Steve and Tony were there, talking about Lacey.

“She’ll be fine, Steve.”

“But Tony-!”

“But nothing; she worries about us, so she gets stressed. She probably does feel lonely sometimes but that’s alright, most teenagers do.”

“You sure?”

“It might just have been me. Either way, she’ll cool off and you’ll talk it out later.”

“I’ve not argued with her before though, just comforted her when you have.”

“That’s a good point – why didn’t she come crying to me?” Tony looked up, checking she wasn’t hiding anywhere, Peter ducked behind a table. “She’s 18, she won’t come crying to Daddy.” Tony shrugged. Peter snuck out, having heard enough, checking each other the labs as he headed for the gym; all were empty.

Only Natasha and Clint were training.

“No, you can’t make confetti arrows.” Natasha sighed.

“Why not? They’d be great at parties!”

“After scaring the shit out of everyone.”

“Not here – they expect it now-a-days.”

“Which just proves you do it too much.”

Peter left the arguing about confetti arrows and wondered where else she could be. Then he remembered what she’d said during his tour on his first day.

_“There’s barely ever anyone on the roof. Well, just me.”_

“Of course.” Peter muttered, heading outside.

He reached the helicarrier pad and saw Lacey on the balcony of the astronomy tower. He shot a web up to the balcony, using it as an aid to walk up the slope. Lacey screamed, surprised, as the thread whooshed past her ear.

“Go away.” She shouted down to him. He didn’t turn around. He sat next to her, not touching her or talking to her; just waiting for her to be ready. She sobbed into her knees, trying to push Peter away but he didn’t leave.

“Why are you here?” She cried.

“I wanted to check you were okay.”

“Why?”

“You looked pretty upset.”

“Why do you care? No one else does.”

“Everything seems worse when you’re upset. And I can see how you feel lonely a hell of a lot of the time, but that doesn’t mean no one cares. They all care.”

“Why’re you the only one here then?”

“Because I care the most and you’re hiding.” Peter tried to joke. “What did you argue about anyway?”

“He doesn’t understand why I feel lonely. He has to schedule in times just to talk to me, that’s not _normal_. I don’t want them to do anything about it; I just want them to understand why.” Lacey sniffed, trying not to cry quite so passionately in front of Peter.

“I think you need a hug.” Peter shrugged.

“I’ll take a hug.” Lacey laughed. Peter scooted closer to her and she leaned on him as he wrapped one arm round her shoulders and the other round her waist. After a brief squeeze he just left one arm round her shoulders. “You did great today.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re still in your suit.” She observed, picking at the suit. Peter tried not to laugh as she brushed his ticklish stomach with her fingers.

“Yeah, I’ve been looking for you rather than getting changed.”

“Thanks.” Lacey sniffed again. “I’m going to have to go apologise, aren’t I?”

“I don’t think you have anything to apologise for.”

“I accused him of some pretty nasty things, even if they are true.”

“If you think apologising is the right thing to do, then do it. But if you think you’re right, then don’t apologise.”

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know the situation well enough to judge.”

“Or you’re not willing to take sides.” Lacey corrected, Peter shrugged. Lacey wrapped her arms round Peter’s waist and lay her head on his shoulder.

“You comfy down there?” He asked, chuckling.

“Sorry, am I hurting you?” Lacey started to sit up.

“No, you’re comfy too.” Peter agreed. Lacey lay back down on him and they just sat there.

.

The second mission with the addition of Spider-Man had gone as fantastically well as the first – Peter wasn’t only physically able to defeat any enemy that showed him or herself but clever enough to outwit them and donate a sarcastic comment as he did it.

Peter’s third mission as part of the Avengers team went as well if not better than the first two. He got more confident each time, getting used to acting as part of team, rather than as an individual. The third task involved a little injury for Peter, but Lacey patched it up for him no problem. Bruce would have done it but he was occupied with trying to mend Clint, who’d taken a heavier blow than Peter. 2 casualties were not a big deal, as long as they weren’t substantial injuries. Peter had a deep scratch on his wrist and a hit on his head; a minor concussion. Clint took a heavier wound to the arm.

Lacey was just dabbing his head with a wet cotton wool, cleaning up the dried blood. She’d already bandaged his wrist – he’d caught a vein and it was bleeding quite heavily, but Bruce had told her to focus on his head; if he had a concussion, it had to be addressed fairly quickly.

“Your pupils aren’t dilated. Follow my finger,” She instructed, slowly waving a single finger in front of his eyes; he followed without a problem.

“I told you; I’m fine.” Peter whined.

“Do you have a headache?”

“Yes.”

“Then you’re not fine. You’ve got a nice bruise forming.” Lacey got an ice-pack out the freezer and gave it to Peter to hold against his now-throbbing head. “Just sit here for a bit and I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Lacey smiled at him.

“You got any painkillers?”

“Plenty.” Lacey went into the cupboard full of pills and remedies, pulling out a packet of painkillers for Peter.

The pain was gone by the next morning – the cut on his head was barely there. Peter was once again impressed by how fast his body could react to pain and heal.

.

Peter didn’t get nervous about missions – if Spider-Man made a mistake, he brushed it off, took the suit off and it evaporated. If _Peter_ made a mistake, it lingered, showing itself whenever he made contact with whoever he’d made the mistake with.

And that’s why he was so nervous about asking Lacey if she wanted to on a date with him. He just had to do it, like ripping off a band aid. If she said no, they continued training together and hopefully remained friends.

What was he thinking; he met her less than a fortnight ago! She would never want to go out with a guy that quickly. Well, she went out with the guy that almost threw up on her, surely Peter was a better comparison?

She’d told him that afternoon that he was the best friend she’d ever had and that really touched him – he’d never felt so honoured to be someone’s friend before. But did this put him in the friend zone? She was more open with his flirting now, even flirting back a little but that didn’t mean she liked him back that way. He was nervous, scared even, but he tried not to let the nerves surface as he headed up to the roof to meet her.

She was ready and waiting, chirpy even. “Hey, what was it you wanted to talk to me so urgently about?”

“It’s not _urgent_ , as such; I just wanted to ask you something.”

“What? Is it about the gymnastics I was teaching you? I know the leotard took it a little bit _too_ far but it’s not that different to the Spidey suit and it was really funny.” Lacey giggled.

“No, it’s not about the gymnastics.” Peter chuckled.

“Then what is it? What’s wrong?”

“I just wondered, if maybe, you’d like to go out with me? At some point. You don’t have to, I just,”

“Peter,” She stopped his babbling.

“Yeah?” He asked hopefully.

“I’d love to.” She grinned. He matched it.

“Great, that’s, err, good.” He tried not to look too ecstatic but he couldn’t contain it. He scooped her up and spun her round; the most enthusiastic hug they’d ever shared.

“But don’t tell Dad or Pops, kay?”

“Why not?”

“Because they’re Iron Man and Captain America and I’m their only girl.”

“Oh, right, yeah, course.” Peter agreed. Lacey laughed at him and hugged him again.

.

The date was set and the night before had arrived. Lacey hadn’t felt nervous about the whole thing until that point. She looked for Clint and told him everything; he was like her big brother.

“It’s just Peter.” Were his supportive words.

“It’s my first date with the guy.”

“It’s just Peter; you were beating the shit out of him today.”

“He was fighting better though. And he just zapped my hands together with his webby things. Which was gross.” Lacey grimaced.

“Calm down. Peter’s harmless and thinks you’re hot – if it’s a rubbish date then you won’t go on a second one.”

“He thinks I’m ‘hot’?”

“You’re physically fit, I mean.”

“Right.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

“Is that my only redeeming feature?”

“No – you’re a lovely person, a good listener, _brilliant_ archer with a _superb_ teacher.”

“Shut up, Clint.”

“Have you told Tony or Steve about the date yet?”

“No, and if you do I will use my brilliant archery skills to pin you to the astronomy tower.” Lacey threatened. Clint only laughed.

“You’ll have a great time with him. He is a great guy. You’re right for him – you know how to treat a guy well. You treated all the other crap you’ve dated better than they deserved.”

“They weren’t that bad.” Lacey defended her choice in men.

“You always see the best in people.”

“You sure about that?” Lacey raised a sceptical eyebrow.

“Yeah – you put up with your Dad more than an average person can. You and Steve are the only people I know that can stand to be in the same room as him for more than 24 hours, successively.”

“We’ve gone from calming my nerves about tomorrow to moaning about Dad?”

“You’re still nervous? Really?”

“If you had the balls to ask Natasha out, you’d get nervous.”

“I do have the balls!”

“You keep telling yourself that.”

“I do.”

“We know.”

“Shut up.”

“Sure.” Lacey laughed, her nerves about the date with Peter fizzling away as she teased Clint.


	7. Chapter 7

Lacey’s nerves returned as she was preparing for the date with Peter. She’d picked out a plain green shift dress that she was going to wear with a denim jacket and converse shoes. She’d planned the outfit the night before, to save having the problem of choosing that night. She’d curled her hair and was standing in front of the mirror, psyching herself up.

“It’s just Peter. It’s just Peter. Yeah, Peter the _freaking_ Spider-Man.” She sighed. “What’s he going to do if he doesn’t enjoy it? Nothing. Bring you home and not ask you out again. He’s not going to leave you hanging from a bridge with your hands tied behind your back. Oh my god, shut up.” Lacey sighed, ashamed that she was talking to herself.

Her Mom popped her head round the door. “You alright sweetheart? You still going to see a movie tonight?”

“Yeah, I thought I’d see if there were any good chick-flicks on. I’ll go watch Madagascar 3 again if not.” Lacey knew that she was going to go see the new James Bond film with Peter, but she didn’t want her Mom to know that. Peter said that he’d told them he was going out with a few friends; they were leaving at different times and meeting at the restaurant.

“Okay. Have fun, honey.” Pepper chimed as she left Lacey’s room, heading to her own room for the night. Lacey went down 2 floors to the living room, to say goodbye to her Dad and Papa.

“I’m going to the movies now.” She announced.

“Okay.” A general consensus went round the six of them.

“You guys got anything planned for tonight?” She asked.

“Steve wants to watch the Wizard of Oz again but Clint wants to re-watch the Bourne Ultimatum films.” Natasha explained.

“And you’re going to sit here in silence until you decide on a movie to watch together?” Lacey questioned.

“Yep. _I_ think they should watch a chick-flick for me, but _no_.” Natasha shrugged.

“Why don’t you just put Harry Potter on or something? You’ve left all 8 of those DVDs in their cellophane packaging.”

“Sounds good to me, who’s in?” Bruce enthused. There was a relatively enthusiastic murmur of agreement and Lacey left them on good terms.

She walked towards the movie theatre, excitement taking over the nerves she’d felt earlier. She was barely 3 blocks away from Avengers Tower when she felt Peter’s hand in her own, his bright smiling face making her laugh.

“I couldn’t wait to meet you there, I got too excited.” He admitted.

“Y’know Dad’s cameras probably span this far? They might see. If they find out this way they’ll-”

“Lacey, chill – they won’t get that mad. Clint wasn’t mad. None of them would be mad. You look beautiful.” He added, squeezing her hand.

Lacey blushed. “Thanks.” She looked at what he was wearing – skinny jeans with a shirt, tie and blazer – smart yet casual. “You look very handsome.”

“Well,” He smirked, tugging at his tie. “I do try.” Lacey smiled at him and they walked, sharing idle chatter on their walk and over dinner.

“I was actually really nervous about tonight.” Lacey admitted.

“So was I. But I’ve not felt this comfortable around someone in a long time.”

“I’ve never felt this comfortable around someone who I haven’t grown up with.”

“Sir, are you ready to order?” A waitress that _clearly_ fancied Peter interrupted. They ordered their food and continued.

“I’ve grown up with the same people, nothing’s really changed, but you’ve made a big change to everything that goes on in that tower. A good change.”

“I have to admit I was surprised by how easily everything fell into step. A lot of it was to do with you and helping me settle in.”

“It was nice to have someone my own age. Or near enough.” Lacey smiled. “We’ve both helped each other out. You’re a great addition to the team though; it’s nice to add a bit of humour.” Lacey was careful to avoid the word ‘Avengers’ – it tended to spark eavesdroppers on other tables.

Peter smiled a toothy smile, beaming from ear to ear, trying to show some of the aforementioned humour. Lacey laughed as the food arrived and conversation slowed down as they devoured the food in front of them. They were soon rushing from the restaurant to the movie theatre, paying for their Bond tickets and taking their seats, popcorn in hand.

Peter conveniently placed his arm over the back of the chair, his hand on Lacey’s shoulder.  She didn’t react but smiled, knowing Peter couldn’t see it in the dark. The titles began to roll and Lacey relaxed a little into his arm. The film began and there were action sequences and gun fights – Peter leaned over and whispered in Lacey’s ear.

“They’re not doing it right.” Lacey tried not to laugh, but she’d been thinking the same thing. She was making a mental list of plot flaws that she’d discuss with Peter on the walk home.

About half way through, Peter stretched his leg out and took his phone from his pocket, sighed as he read the text. He turned it to Lacey.

 _‘Avengers time Spidey’_ Tony had sent. Lacey nodded at him and wished him good luck. He pulled his back pack with the suit over his shoulder and left the movie theatre as quietly as he could. Lacey sat on her own, missing the comfort Peter provided.

The date had definitely been a success – she’d had a great night – but Lacey had never envisioned it being interrupted. An hour later the film ended and Lacey filed out the theatre with the other movie-goers. She began walking home alone; looking over New York for any damage that had been caused but saw nothing. Someone fell on her out of an alley way and she squealed, pulled out of her wonder.

“Ssh, ssh, it’s only me.”

“Peter? You scared the living daylights out of me. What’ve you done to your cheek?” She traced the cut on his face with her fingers.

“Nothing, it’s fine.” He panted; he’d obviously rushed to meet her on the way home. “I didn’t want you walking home on your own.”

“That’s really sweet.” Lacey smiled, doing Peter’s top button up – he’d missed it in his rush to get changed and his suit was on show. His hands were still gloved, but he shoved one in his pocket and took Lacey’s hand with the other, hiding the remains of his suit and grinning at her.

“Do you want to go anywhere else?” he offered, making up for the time he had to miss. Lacey smiled.

“There’s one place I can show you.” Lacey smiled, leading Peter down roads he didn’t recognise, to a park he didn’t know. But Lacey didn’t stop at the park; she carried on through a little battered wooden gate and to a clearing with a slightly less battered bench placed in the middle.

“Papa always brought me here when I was little, when Mom and Dad were working and needed me out the way for a bit.” Lacey smiled fondly, admiring the over-grown trees and the pretty wild flowers, barely lit by the night sky.

“It’s beautiful.” Peter smiled, watching Lacey remember. She sat down on the bench and patted next to her, inviting Peter to join her.

“What happened?” She asked, referring to the Avengers thing he disappeared to do earlier.

“Oh, there was a minor invasion. But they weren’t well equipped, shall I say.” Peter smiled. “We just surrounded them and let the Police deal with them – no need to defeat what can’t fight.”

“How’d you get Dad to come around to that?”

“We bought him some doughnuts on the way home.”

“That’s him sorted for the night. And he wonders why he’s getting fat.” Lacey rolled her eyes. “I’ll make him do 500 sit ups tomorrow.” She giggled, picturing standing on Tony’s feet till he did them all.

“You really do look out for them all, don’t you?”

“Someone has to. They’re all the types to ignore their own health for the safety of the people, well mostly.”

“You also fall into that ‘type’.”

“They all look after me too. Pop reassured me of that when we had our big heart-to-heart-and-make-up, as I shall now call it. Have I told you about the time I broke my collar bone when I was 7?”

“No.”

“Dad had taken me to this rock climbing centre for my birthday and everyone had come to watch. I fell from maybe 10m up and landed on my elbow, breaking my collar bone. I’m there sobbing my eyes out, Papa comes and scoops me up, holding me as the ambulance came. I just remember sitting on his knee and sobbing into his chest. For the next three weeks they all took turns helping me eat and comforting me when I couldn’t sleep. None of them will ever admit it but the Avengers is like a family, and that’s my fondest memory of my family.” Lacey explained. Peter smiled. “And now you get to be part of the family.” Lacey nudged him with her elbow, trying to take the spotlight off her.

Peter didn’t know what to say. They sat in silence for a few moments.

“How was the movie?” Peter asked, for failure of thinking of anything else to say.

“Predictable, happy ending with Bond wondering off into the sunset as an explosion occurs behind him. I’d rather watch you guys solve and destroy the criminal underworld.” She shrugged. Peter laughed.

“Would you be up for doing this again, then?” He asked for the second date, sounding more confident than he felt as he gently held her hand again.

“Definitely. I’ve had a great time.”

“Even with the interruption?”

“I got to show you somewhere I’d only ever shared with my Pop before, we wouldn’t have done that if we hadn’t have been interrupted.” Lacey smiled and Peter released an inward sigh of relief – he thought she might have put him in the same category as her family; great but a bit flaky.

“We should probably head back – it’s getting late.”

“How do we explain that we’re coming back together?” Lacey asked.

“I’ll go to the 24 hour shop round the corner – I need to get some more Tootsies anyway.”

“Where’ve you been hiding them and why aren’t you sharing them with me?” Lacey questioned.

“I stash them in my room – Natasha tells me off for eating them. She told me I need to keep a strict diet if my training’s going to make me stronger.” Peter admitted, albeit sheepishly. Lacey just laughed at him. They walked back hand in hand again. “Okay, do you mind if I take the suit off? It’s really uncomfortable under this shirt.”

“No, err, go for it.” Lacey agreed. Peter took off the tie, blazer and shirt, pulling the tight suit over his shoulders and down his stomach, leaving him topless in the middle of the street, which was conveniently empty. He looked around him for somewhere to take off the bottom half of the suit.

“I’ll just go behind that dumpster.” He muttered, grabbing his clothes and scurrying away. Lacey laughed.

“You’re prepared to be shirtless in the middle of the high street but your underwear’s too much?” Lacey teased.

“Yeah, whatever.” Peter called back, not willing to admit that she was embarrassing him a little.

“I’m going to head back. I’ll see you later.” Lacey left him behind the dumpster to go get his Tootsies and headed back for the Avengers tower, hoping to avoid her mother so she didn’t have to review the movie she hadn’t seen.

.

It was a week later when they scheduled the second date.

“So you and Peter are going bowling?” Tony questioned, when she asked permission.

“Yeah, we thought it’d be something to do off-site, he’s barely left the tower apart for missions.” Lacey lied.

“It’s not a date, is it?”

“No. We’re just friends. What would be so bad if it _was_ a date? The guy lives with us – you’d be able to keep tabs on him all the time. You wouldn’t need to get a swat team to bug his room.”

“I only did that with the last one!”

Lacey stopped in her pacing round Tony’s desk. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that. Either way, it’s not a date.”

“Good. He’s not good enough for you.”

“He’s Spider-Man. Spider-Man’s not good enough for me?” Lacey questioned.

“No one’s good enough for you. You’re Daddy’s little girl, Daddy and Papa are the only men in your life.” Tony smirked, pulling Lacey in for a hug. Lacey cringed behind her father’s back, hoping he didn’t find out that the pair he seemed to despise so much were an item.

“Daddy’s little girl has to go.” Lacey pulled away.

“If you must.” Tony sighed. “See you later.” He called after her.

She met Peter in the living room and they walked towards the bowling alley.

“Dad thinks we might be dating.” Lacey admitted.

“What did he say?”

“He said nobody was good enough for Daddy’s little girl.” Lacey didn’t want to give him false hope.

“That’s a hard act to live up to.” Peter sighed.

“I don’t care what he says; you’re my boyfriend. You’re more than good enough for me.” Lacey denied her father, even if she couldn’t to his face.

“What happens when he finds out?”

“He’ll get angry, probably more so with me than you. He’ll try and get in a fight with you but you’re too nice to do more than push him away. He’ll scream and get angry, forbid us from seeing each other, try and send me to some university in England then get over it and make out with Pops.”

“Not that you’ve thought this through.”

“Not at all. He’s not put application forms for universities in England in my room or anything.”

“Well tonight isn’t about Tony, or English Universities or the Avengers; it’s about us.” Peter smiled at her as he held open the door to the bowling alley and followed her inside. They got the shoes and put their names into the machine and began to bowl.

They got 3 goes each before Peter’s phone started ringing.

“Yeah?”

“Time to go Spidey.” Lacey heard Tony’s voice from the other end, clearly already in the Iron Man suit. Peter sighed, hanging up and grabbing his back pack.

“The Avengers don’t want us together.” Peter moaned.

“Don’t say that, at the moment it’s just Dad that doesn’t approve. I’ll see you at home later. I’ll take your goes and ruin your scores.” Lacey promised as Peter jogged for the door. She picked up ball after ball, rolling them down the alley and pausing after the first game, knowing Peter had booked another one. She sat on the plastic chairs provided; hoping beyond hope that in the 20 minutes she’d spent bowling on her own, nothing bad had happened to anyone, especially not Peter.

She continued with the second game, playing both hers and Peter’s turns, looking incredibly lonely to other bowlers. She was rolling the last bowl when she felt someone standing behind her, his hand covering hers, his other arm guiding her as she walked forward to roll the ball, knocking down all 10 pins.

“And that’s how you’re supposed to do it.” Peter breathed in her ear; she turned to him, checking him over for damage.

Although the cut from the previous week had healed within days, a fresh black eye was Peter’s injury for this week. Lacey’s worry was obviously etched clearly on her face because Peter smiled, reassuring her once again that he was okay.

He brushed her hair from her face and Lacey’s heart pounded, she anticipated Peter’s lips on her own but he just smiled again and went to hand in the bowling shoes he’d accidentally stolen.

They headed for the nearest fast food restaurant, not wanting to deal with all the egotistical onlookers they had at the classier restaurant they went to on their last date.

“I’m sorry I had to leave again.” Peter apologised as they sat down with their food.

“It’s okay. It’s your job. I’m sure you’d be as forgiving if it was the other way round. If I had a job, that is.”

“You’re brilliant.” Peter smiled. “Any other girl would make this really difficult.”

“’Any other girl’ wouldn’t know about,” Lacey paused as someone walked past. “Your employers.” She finished, cryptic to any eavesdroppers.

“You’d have the same job if you’d accept it.”

“I’d die out there, for any one of three reasons.”

“Which are?”

“One – under training.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Or the wrong kind of training; whatever. Two – a difficult opponent or three – my heart giving out.” Lacey finished. “I’m more use waiting for you in the medical room. You know you’re not meant to let them hit you, right?”

“Oh, ha-ha, let’s just go.” Peter deflected Lacey’s teasing, taking the tray of empty packaging and putting it in the bin, beginning to walk back to Avengers Tower.

“Are you sure it’s just your eye that’s hurt?” Lacey grimaced.

“Yes. You sure you’re not going to have a heart attack from the amount you worry?”

“I’m more likely to.” She tapped her chest. “Are Dad and Papa alright? I was too worried about you to ask.” She blushed.

Peter smiled. “They’re fine. I still need to work on my ground fighting.”

“We can do that tomorrow if you like.” Lacey offered, dropping Peter’s hand as they got closer to home.

They arrived at Avengers tower and took the slow-sometimes-faulty elevator up to the kitchen floor.

Peter pulled Lacey close, brushing her hair from her face again and leaving his hand on her cheek, slowly drawing their faces nearer. They were vaguely aware of the elevator pinging and the doors opening, but ignored them.

“Peter,” Lacey whispered.

“Ssh,” Peter stopped her and brushed his lips against hers. There was cough from outside the elevator and they jumped apart, seeing Clint outside.

“You’re so lucky it’s me and not anyone else.” He laughed, continuing down the corridor. Lacey followed him.

“Night Peter.” She muttered.

“Night.” He breathed, pressing the button for his floor and smacking his head on the panel above the buttons. “I didn’t even get to kiss her.”


	8. Chapter 8

“Peter, Lacey, we need you.” Bruce poked his head round the door of the gym.

“What, me?” Lacey asked.

“Yeah – control room, 5 minutes.” He shouted. They exchanged glances and ran, Peter to get his suit, Lacey to find Tony – what could they want her for?

“Lace, we need you to coordinate. We need you to man all the screens and tell us what’s where – there’s panic everywhere.” Tony explained, not yet in his suit. Lacey presumed he’d go out the roof and fly across the city last minute. The others were beginning to show up, ready to go.

“I can’t calm panic from a control board. Do you want me to go down and give them all a hug?” She asked sarcastically.

“There are creatures all over the city; it’s not the people we’re trying to control.” Steve assisted Tony’s explanation.

“I want you to watch these cameras. You’ll have a headset, you’ll be able to talk to all of us individually. There’s buttons with all our names on there.” Tony pointed at the 7 buttons at the bottom of the huge board, the 8 screens at the top all showing views from different CCTV cameras and news channels.

“But why me? Surely there’s someone trained to work this?”

“Lace, you watch me built it, you know it inside out. You can do it. If anything, you just need to watch the screens and tell us if there’s anything behind our backs.” Tony explained, sitting her down and putting the headphones on, placing the microphone in front of her mouth.

“Tony, get out of here.” Fury breathed, the whole situation stressing him out. The most stressful part behind that the Avengers were splitting up and the only thing linking them was an 18 year old girl.

“Lace?” She heard through the headphones.

“Dad?”

“Good, this works.”

“Please tell me this isn’t a prototype?” Lacey grimaced. Tony didn’t answer. “Holy shit.” She muttered.

“It’ll work! There should be 7 locations on your screens; we’ll be cropping up soon enough.” Tony explained.

“Good luck Dad.” Lacey clicked off the connection with Tony.

Clint appeared in the top left corner but the CCTV wasn’t giving a very clear image. Lacey switched on the four blank screens below the eight in use and hacked more CCTV in the area, splitting each screen into four.

“Have you done this before?” Fury asked, watching over Lacey’s shoulder.

“Nope.” She muttered, concentrated in her hacking and positioning of each camera. “Clint, you’ve got company on the roof.” Lacey told him. He turned; shooting them all down with time to roll them off the roof and watching them fall to the ground before anyone else joined him.

“Thanks Lace.” He breathed, pressing a button in his ear then going straight back to defending himself. With Clint occupied she scanned the other computers. Natasha, Bruce, Steve, Thor and Tony were all holding themselves well, Peter was struggling a bit.

“Dad, have we still got those remote control fighter bots?” Lacey asked Tony.

“Yeah, 2 of them were fully functioning. Why?”

“You might just get a remote control 8th Avenger.” She mused, typing away at the control board, over-riding codes with the help of JARVIS to get the remote control Iron Man replica bot out of the workshop and flying through the air to where Peter was fighting.

“Peter, we’ve got you some back up.” Lacey told him.

“How? What?” He questioned, breathless from fighting so many creatures at once. Lacey flew the bot in to Peter’s location and began shooting them back, stunning them. Peter looked straight at the cameras in the bot’s eyes (another screen Lacey had designated) and nodded. Lacey didn’t know how else the bot could react other than waving back at Peter, so she did. He put one hand in his ear, pressing the button that allowed him to talk to her, shooting webs at the creatures while he talked. “Thanks Lacey.” Peter laughed as they fought together.

“Pops, they’re swarming you.” Lacey warned, continuing to programme the bot to fight while keeping an eye on all the others. “Peter, are you alright for now?”

“Yeah.”

“Pops, I’m sending help.” Lacey told him, pressing Peter and Steve’s buttons down at the same time so they both heard her. They both agreed and she flew the bot to help her Papa. Whoever was controlling these creatures was sending them to whichever Avenger was defeating them quickest.

They weren’t well protected creatures – they’re skin was soft and easily penetrable but they had claws and speed on their side. Lacey landed the bot next to her Dad and began to shoot at the creatures.

“What’s going on?” Steve shouted over the growls and screeches of the puma based creatures. He hadn’t pressed his in-ear but Lacey had activated the microphone in the bot, so what her Papa said could still be picked up.

“It’s one of Dad’s old remote controlled bots.”

“Thank god, I thought it was Tony and he’d left his section unattended.”

“If he knew they were swarming you he would.” They fought together until Steve took over, managing on his own. Lacey flew, hovering 50 feet above Steve, making sure he was okay then flying and leaving the bot on a roof, so she could concentrate on warning the others rather than fighting with them. But they were all holding their ground well, slowly defeating the creatures that only seemed to be growing in numbers.

Pepper stood behind Lacey, putting one nimble hand on her shoulder. “Are you sure you want to be involved with this?”

“No, but I’ve got nothing better to do today.” Lacey shrugged, activating the bot again and sending it flying over the city, to entertain herself, if nothing else.

“Those bottom screens weren’t on when Tony left.” Pepper noticed, putting her hand on the back of Lacey’s chair.

“Nope.”

“Did you hack CCTV in the city?”

“Yeah. Am I not meant to?”

“No! And why is there two Iron Men? How’d Tony manage that?”

“The blue one’s a remote control one – I’m programming it from here.”

“Far too much like your father.” Pepper muttered. “No more hacking CCTV!”

“It’s for the benefit of the people.”

“Pepper, she’s doing a great job.” Fury interrupted.

“Peter?” Lacey got straight back to it, ignoring the praising adults behind her.

“Yeah?”

“Why don’t you string a web between two buildings, stand on that and shoot them from above – they can’t fly, they won’t get to you there.” Lacey suggested, noticing the gashes on Peter’s back and leg.

Peter swung to the corner of one building then across to the corner of another, attaching the lone thread, swinging up and landing on it with perfect balance, crouching down and shooting at the creatures, silencing their awful cries and rendering their claws useless.

Clint was holding up his own fight well from the roof, with a good supply of arrows and a decreasing number of creatures. Thor, Hulk and Tony were fine, killing the creatures with massive success rates. Steve was jumping off some of the abandoned cars and using his shield to help kill the creatures.

“Hey, Lace,” Natasha’s voice came through and Lacey looked over at her camera – she was gone.

“Nat, where are you? I can’t see you.”

“All the creatures are gone, but I can’t-” She grimaced. Lacey moved the CCTV cameras, finally finding Natasha in an alleyway, a trail of blood leading from the centre of the road to where she’d dragged herself out of harm’s way.

“I’m on my way.” Lacey muttered, commanding the bot to fly at full capacity towards Natasha’s location. It scooped her up and flew her back to Avengers tower. Lacey pushed her headphones back, around her neck. “Nick, Natasha’s been hurt. The bot’s bringing her to the roof.” Fury instructed the medical employees to meet her up top with a gurney.

“She’s taken care of, get back to the others, Potts. And that’s Director Fury, to you.” Fury instructed. Pepper looked up, but went back to her paperwork when she realised she wasn’t the ‘Potts’ being addressed.

But the others were fine. Once the bot had brought Natasha in, Lacey flew it back to where she’d been, examining one of the dead creatures, trying to find its identity or creature.

“JARVIS, is there anything on Dad’s databases like this?”

“No, Miss. But the creature isn’t a living creature as such, Miss.”

“JARVIS?” Lacey invited the AI to continue.

“It’s a robotic clone Miss Potts, that’s why there’s so many of them.”

“Aah. It’s dead though right?”

“It’s systems are destroyed, yes.”

“I’ll bring this back too.” Lacey shrugged, getting the bot to pick up the creature and bring it back to the Avengers Tower, hiding it behind the astronomy tower and hovering above the city, putting the bot on stand-by.

“They’re retreating! Lacey, they’re all retreating.” Tony disrupted her thoughts with his confused observation.

“What? Why?” Lacey asked, opening all the in-ears so they could all hear each other.

“They’re turning and running.” Steve contributed.

“Are they running from all of you?” Lacey asked.

“They’re all gone.” Clint muttered.

“Are you all going to come back?” Lacey questioned.

“There’s nothing else for us to do.” Peter agreed.

“Thor? Bruce? You guys alright?” Lacey asked. She’d seen the Hulk disappear into a back street and Bruce emerged a minute later, decently clothed and putting his in-ear in.

“I’m fine.” Thor stated.

“Me too. What about Natasha?” Bruce asked.

“She’s been brought in, she hurt her foot; she couldn’t walk.”

“Where’s the bot gone, Lace?” Tony asked.

“I’ll put it back in the workshop.” Lacey programmed the bot to go back inside and JARVIS helped her put it away.

“Good girl. You can shut the communicator down now.” Tony instructed.

“Over and out.” Lacey saluted to the machine and switched it all off, standing as everyone began to file in. Peter was first in, limping on his scratched leg. “C’mon you, let’s go clean up.” Lacey followed him through to the medical room. She turned back to glance at the control room – the others were gathering, heading for the big meeting room to debrief on what just happened, she assumed.

Peter took the suit off his top half and turned his back so Lacey could clean up the gash.

“What about your leg?” She asked.

“Do you _want_ me sitting here in my boxers?”

“Do you _want_ the wound to get infected?”

Peter sighed and took the suit off completely.

“I’ll do your leg first so you can put it back on if you like.” Lacey offered. Peter nodded, sitting on the medical bed and preparing for the sting of the disinfectant on the gash. Lacey cleaned the blood around it first, trying to avoid causing him pain. “This will hurt. A lot.” Lacey winced. Peter put his fist in his mouth as Lacey gently dabbed the wound.

“Hey are you two- whoa!” Clint entered, stopping when he saw Peter in his lack of clothes. “Save it for later guys.” He teased. Peter blushed furiously.

“He’s hurt his leg, douchebag.” Lacey lightly punched Clint’s arm as he came to examine the damage.

“That looks painful.” Clint grimaced. Peter nodded furiously, still with fist in mouth. “I’ll make sure Tony and Steve don’t interrupt. See you in a bit.” Clint left as quickly as he entered and Lacey breathed a sigh of relief – she hadn’t considered her parents interrupting until the panicked moment before Clint revealed himself. She continued working on Peter’s leg.

“Holy crap.” He muttered when she was done. Lacey bandaged his leg and he put the bottom half of the Spider-Man suit back on, turning his back to her. She sorted the back wound, putting a couple of stitches on the widest part of the cut, giving him a fresh packet of painkillers.

“I’d suggest a few days off from Avenger-ing.” Lacey offered her advice.

“The press are intrigued by the Blue Iron Man – I’m sure they won’t miss Spider-Man for a few days.” Peter agreed. “Hey, do you want to go out tonight? My mate’s holding a party downtown.”

“I just told you to take a few days off and you want to go to a party?” Lacey smiled. “Sure. I’ll ask Dad; he’s so chuffed with my programming of the Blue Iron Man I’m sure he won’t mind.”

“Great. If we leave about half 6.”

“Sure.” Lacey smiled. “Do you need a hand walking back to your room?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Great, I’ll go talk to Dad.”

“You’re not going to spend the next 3 hours getting ready are you?”

“No, I was going to squeeze in some building with Dad before I go get ready.”

“I’ve never had a girlfriend say that to me before.”

“Well this girl loves making technology with Daddy.” Lacey smirked. “I’ll see you later.” Lacey went to the workshop where she knew Tony would be continuing whatever he’d been doing in there for the past few days.

He was now working on the Blue Iron Man.

“How the hell did you programme this to work?” Tony shouted, punching the keyboard and all but breaking it.

“It’s basic code.”

“That’s why I can’t get it to work; the genius that I am could _never_ operate in ‘basic code’.” Tony smirked smugly.

“You’re too busy being Iron Man to operate him anyway.”

“You did _brilliantly_ today, sweetheart.” Tony smiled proudly, hugging her.

“You said I would Dad.”

“I know, but that was to calm you down enough to do it. I didn’t think you’d bring in the remote control bot to help Peter and Steve and to get Natasha out. She’s on her feet again, limping heavily and moaning lots but on her feet none the less.”

“Peter didn’t come out too well either, scratch on his leg. We need to get a decent name for the bot out there if I use it again – Blue Iron Man doesn’t have a very good ring to it. Something about remote control, probably more intelligent than that. Unless we call it by the material it’s actually made of, and not ‘iron’.” Lacey rambled.

“We’ll sort the name out later.”

“Talking of Peter, he’s been invited to a party and he asked if I want to go with him.”

“Another night out with Peter? I think he likes you Lace.” Tony observed.

“He just doesn’t want to go on his own, an ally in a sea of people if you will.” Lacey explained, not willing to tell her parents of her relationship with the Avenger yet.

“Look me in the eye and tell me it’s not a date and I’ll let you go.”

“It’s not a date!” Lacey lied, looking her Dad straight in the eye; Tony believed her.

“Okay. If you’re back before 12 I’d consider it a crappy party. And if Peter makes a move on you, kick him in the balls before I do.”

“Would it really be that bad if I went out with him?”

“You’re not telling me…?”

“No! But, what if?”

“I’m really not comfortable having this conversation.”

“I’ll see you later.” Lacey laughed, leaving Tony to trying to decipher the ‘basic code’ he was too intelligent for.

.

Lacey didn’t enjoy this party as much as she enjoyed the others she’d been to – many intoxicated men had flirted with her and under usual circumstances she would have flirted back, but this was her first party as a taken woman. At first, her and Peter had stuck together, dancing and talking and continuing like a date would, but he’d been whisked off by others and Lacey was now alone.

“Lace, Lacey!” Peter shouted over the noise of music and University students dancing. Lacey was poised at the bar with a soft drink and Peter had downed 2 beers and been laughing with his mates for the past 10 minutes. Lacey knew no one and didn’t want to drift too far from Peter, but now he was stumbling towards her.

He tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled goofily at her. “You’re really pretty.” He slurred.

“Peter, we should get back-” Peter silenced Lacey by smashing his lips on her own. After the initial shock she realised he was sober enough to actually mean it, and the drunken antics were probably an act to his friends, who still got drunk on three pints of bear as he didn’t. She kissed him back with all the force she had, but she was tired; she’d been making small talk with random strangers all evening. He pulled away sooner than she expected.

“Let’s go.” Peter wrapped his arms round her, smiling against her lips, his hands finishing lower than her back, to put it lightly. She grabbed his hand and they left the party, soft drink left on the bar.

They got a cab back to a street away from Avengers Tower, walking the rest of the distance and getting into the elevator and intending to go all the way up to Lacey’s floor. They were stopped on the 2nd floor; an employee Lacey was familiar with walked in and pushed the button to the employee accommodation floor. She got out and Peter reached over to put his arm round Lacey, his hand in her back pocket.

“No yet.” She whispered, pushing him away. The elevator pinged again on the gym floor, Lacey acted quickly, putting Peter’s arm round her shoulder and whispering ‘You’re wasted’ under her breath.

Tony raised an eyebrow at them.

“He’s totally out of it; I’ll put him to bed and make sure he’s alright in the morning. I’m sure that’s a sight you don’t want to see.” Lacey laughed, lying through her teeth.

Tony nodded sceptically. “I’ll take the stairs.” He mused. Lacey smiled at him as the doors closed.

“Now we’re safe.” She muttered, grabbing Peter’s neck and pulling his lips towards hers once more. “He should have taken the bloody stairs anyway.”

The lift finally reached their floor and Lacey checked her Mom wasn’t about before she resumed her intimate affairs with Peter.

The affairs that only got more intimate as the night wore on.


	9. Chapter 9

Lacey woke up first the next morning. She was in bed and Peter’s bare arm was slung over her waist, his head tucked into her neck. Their clothes were all over the floor in front of her and she smiled, remembering the night before and their intimate affairs. She grabbed a blanket from the other side of Peter, wrapping it round her and getting out of bed, making sure to keep Peter comfortable, trying not to wake him up.

She gathered up Peter’s shirt and a pair of her own jeans. She put them on her bed and dropped the blanket, knowing Peter was still asleep and he’d seen it all the night before anyway. She pulled on her underwear, losing her balance and grabbing the bed, shaking it and waking Peter.

He blinked his eyes open, squealing and pulling the duvet over his eyes.

“You didn’t mind it last night.” She rolled her eyes.

“Oh god, what did we do?” Peter sat up, his head in his hands.

“It’s not that bad.”

“I’ve never done… _that_ on the third date. Oh god.”

“You’re such a prude Peter.”

“Your Dad’s not got this place under surveillance has he? Oh god.” Peter repeated.

“Why the hell would he have bugged my room?”

“For this purpose!”

“Of all things, Dad and Pops would be more concerned about us being together than what we did last night, okay?”

“That’s- no they wouldn’t! What’re you? No, why?”

“Because I was 9 when I walked in on Dad and Papa. They not only had to give me the birds and the bees talk but they had to explain that love isn’t always about men and women.” Lacey sat back on the bed after donning Peter’s t-shirt to stop him feeling awkward.

“Oh.”

“I was 14 when Dad and I were chatting and he reminded me of the incident and told me he’d _never_ punish me for sex as long as it was legal and I didn’t tell Mom about the incident.”

“That makes sense.”

“That’s what I meant when I said they’d be more concerned about the relationship than the literal ins and outs of a relationship.” Lacey continued to explain.

“Oh god, are you mentally scarred? Would you like a hug?” Peter realised what 9-year-old Lacey had seen.

Lacey rolled her eyes again. “Am I just tougher than your average teenager or are you more innocent than you implied last night?”

Peter smiled. “Last night was good, wasn’t it?” He remembered, kissing Lacey’s neck.

“Although last night was great, we’re not doing it again this morning.” Lacey stopped him, throwing his jeans and boxers at him and standing by her bed as Peter struggled to put his trousers on under the duvet. Lacey just laughed at him and turned round the pick up the jeans she’d left on the floor.

“That’s a view I wouldn’t mind.” Peter wiggled his eyebrows at the view of Lacey’s behind and she straightened up instantly, pulling his T-Shirt over her bottom. “If you’re wearing my shirt what am I going to wear?”

“I borrowed your hoodie the other day – you can wear that.” Lacey suggested.

“Lacey, have you seen- oh.” Clint interrupted. Lacey began pulling the shirt over her bare legs and Peter pulled the duvet over his half pulled up jeans. Clint smirked. “Good party last night?”

“Shut up.” Lacey sneered, heading for the bathroom.

“Pete, you were due to train with Thor half an hour ago.”

“Bollocks.” Peter muttered, catching the hoodie Lacey threw at him and running out the door pulling it over his head.

“So, you and Peter?” Clint made himself comfortable on Lacey’s unmade bed.

“You knew about us. If you breathe a word about,”

“The sex?” Clint teased.

Lacey rolled her eyes. “My threat about pinning you to the astronomy tower still stands.”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. But really, on the third date?”

“Don’t try and make me feel guilty.” Lacey sat next to him, running her hands through her hair.

“You need to tell Tony and Steve.” Clint advised; no hint of sarcasm in his tone.

“I know. I know.” Lacey agreed. “But I don’t know how.”

.

“We definitely said 7, didn’t we? She’s not going to turn up at half past saying we told her that time, is she?” Steve questioned.

“No we definitely told her 7.” Tony agreed. They were sat in an expensive restaurant, both in suits, 2 seats opposite them, though only one should be there. Lacey was meant to join them; they wanted to go out for dinner because Tony and Steve had been really busy recently and wanted to make it up to her. And they went out for family dinners occasionally, why not?

They saw her come through the door, wearing the formal dress Pepper had picked out for her. But she was with Peter.

“Why’s Peter here?” Steve asked.

“Oh no.” Tony muttered.

“What?”

“They’re holding hands.”

“They’re not…?”

“They might be.”

“But she’d have told us.”

“I think she’s about to.” Tony muttered as Lacey was in hearing distance. “Lacey, hi.”

“Dad, Papa, this is my boyfriend, Peter.” Lacey introduced. Peter smiled nervously. Tony and Steve slumped back in their seats, open mouthed; very shocked. “Dad? Pops?”

“Do sit down, both of you.” Tony invited. Peter held out Lacey’s chair before he sat in his own, if not to be a gentleman, to impress Tony and Steve.

“How long have you two been…?” Steve asked.

“About 3 weeks.” Lacey answered; Peter looked too terrified to talk.

“Did you wait till we were in a public place so I couldn’t kick up a fuss?” Tony asked.

“3 weeks is not a long time.” Lacey disregarded, trying to read the menu to avoid the topic.

“You promised me you weren’t going out on dates with him.” Tony hissed.

“He’s right here, Dad.” Lacey snapped. Tony didn’t comment. “I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d freak out and get all protective. I really like Peter; this isn’t me asking your permission, if you disapprove I’m not going to stop seeing him.” Lacey explained. Peter smiled a little, but the smile evaporated when he caught Steve’s warning eye.

“I’m sorry, Peter.” Tony apologised. It was forced and nowhere near genuine, but Lacey was pleased.

They ordered drinks and food and resumed conversation once the waitress (who clearly had very high views of all three of the men around Lacey) had gone.

“So, Peter, where have you taken her?” Steve asked, trying to keep the conversation light, avoid arguments and find out more about Peter in one go.

“Dinner, movie, bowling, party.” Peter muttered. Lacey had never heard him sound more nervous.

“The one you came back drunk from?” Tony remembered the incident in the elevator. Peter hoped Lacey could come up with a good lie fast because he was drawing a blank.

“He wasn’t actually drunk Dad.”

“Then why?”

“Because he had his arm around me and that was the best excuse we could come up with in the time the elevator doors opened.” Lacey stuck mainly to the truth.

“When was this?” Steve asked, being the only member of the table that wasn’t at this encounter.

“I’ll tell you later.” Tony dismissed it and Steve only nodded. “I do hope you’re aware I still don’t approve of this.” Tony smiled sweetly, pointing between the two of them.

“I know, Dad.” Lacey muttered.

“I’m not a big fan either, just saying.” Steve added.

“Is this about me or about Lacey growing up?” Peter asked.

“What?” Tony glowered.

“Pete, don’t-”

“Is this about me not being good enough or your little girl growing up?” Peter asked.

“That’s an absurd question,”

“Despite all my negative qualities, my positive qualities kind of out-weigh them. I can keep her safe, I’ll treat her well, I have treated her well, I don’t have a criminal record and I work with her whole family.” Peter stated. “Lace, I’m just going to go. I don’t want to ruin this evening.”

“Pete, don’t,”

“I’ll see you later.” He got up and left, thanking the waitress for her hospitality and cancelling his meal on his way past. Lacey was left with her head in her hands; this couldn’t have gone any worse.

“He has a point, Tony,”

“Not now Steve.”

Lacey was torn – she didn’t want to upset her fathers, but she didn’t want to end what she had with Peter.

“I know both of you may be disappointed with me, for going out with who might just be the perfect man, but I’m kind of disappointed in you too. I expected both of you to be happy for me, maybe a bit surprised but Peter is a good man, and he’s great for me. I’m going too.”

“Lacey wait,” Steve stopped her.

“No, I need to be on my own right now. I’ll cancel my meal if that’s what you’re concerned about.” She muttered, following Peter’s path to the door.

“I don’t think that could have gone any worse.” Steve reviewed.

“Maybe she’ll-”

“She’s clearly not going to break up with him any time in the near-future, Tony. You could have at least _pretended_ to be happy for her.”

“You didn’t either!”

“I didn’t tell him I didn’t approve.”

“You did!”

“Only after you did!”

“Let’s not argue about this – we came out for dinner and that’s what we will do.” Tony tried to ignore what had happened and enjoy time out with Steve. Steve didn’t quite agree with Tony’s morals, or lack thereof, but didn’t want a public spat so saved it for later.

.

“You didn’t need to leave too.” Peter had told Lacey after they were settled in the living room. Lacey was still wearing her dress and was curled up on the couch with Peter, still in his tuxedo.

“I was only going to hit him if he put you down again.” She muttered. “You’re perfect. The only reason he doesn’t like you is because you’re not him.”

“Perfect, eh?” Peter smiled. Lacey looked up at him and he pecked her lips, still smiling. “That seems like a hard act to live up to.”

“You’re doing it without trying.” Lacey smiled, kissing him again.

There was a cough from the door; Tony and Steve were standing there. Lacey rolled her eyes and stood to leave, grabbing Peter’s hand at the last minute. He didn’t want to be left with the disapproving fathers so went with her.

“My room or yours?” She asked.

“Let’s go to mine.” Peter smiled, leading them down the Avengers corridor, passing Bruce in the corridor. Everyone knew now – it wasn’t a secret anymore.

Peter closed his bedroom door and they were officially alone. Lacey just stood in the middle of his room; she looked tired. Peter hugged her and held her close.

“I wish they could see you the same way I could see you.” Lacey muttered into Peter’s shirt.

“They will. They’re just a bit shocked, that’s all.”

“I told Mom. She was fine with it.”

“I should probably tell Aunt May that the controller of the Blue Iron Man is my girlfriend.”

“I’m not going to be allowed anywhere near the Blue Iron Man for a long time. How’s your leg doing?” Lacey asked, looking down at Peter’s thigh, hidden by his pants.

“Not too bad. My back’s kind of sore. But that’s probably because I’ve been wearing this shirt for at least an hour and a half and it’s quite uncomfortable.” Peter sighed, pulling off his tie and draping it round Lacey’s neck while he unbuttoned his shirt and put a more comfortable one on. Lacey started tugging on her skin-tight dress, deciding she needed to change into something more comfortable.

“I’m just going to go get changed.” Lacey told Peter, opening his door again and turning to walk up the stairs to her and Pepper’s floor. But Tony and Steve were at the end of the corridor, arguing, about her, again. They hadn’t noticed her, so Lacey tip toed back to Peter’s room and silently opened the door, clicking it closed behind her.

“Holy- you could give a guy some warning!” Peter gasped, having been walking around in his boxers.

“Sorry. Dad and Pops are arguing again. Hey, my balcony’s just above your room,”

“You’re not scaling the building.”

“Can’t I use your,”

“You’re not using my shooters to climb up the building. You’d ruin the dress anyway.”

“There’s Dad’s tunnel. I’ll use that.”

“Tunnel? What tunnel?” Peter questioned, but Lacey was already sneaking out the door. Peter pulled on some sweats and followed her out his room in his socks, listening to Tony and Steve arguing.

“She can’t stay here with him. I won’t allow it.”

“If you send her to England she’ll just meet another ‘perfect’ man while she’s studying. Or she’ll just miss Peter and hate you forever.”

“I don’t care.”

“You’d rather she hate you than dated him?” Steve shouted, Tony didn’t answer. Peter followed Lacey into the tunnel room before he could hear the answer. He almost fell off the ledge. There was a ladder that went up and a lid at the top but Peter couldn’t see the bottom of the tunnel. He followed her up the ladder.

“What’s this for?”

“When Dad needs to get out from the workshop quickly, he can fly straight from here up to the roof. He put the ladder in if elevator ever broke – last resort.” Lacey explained, opening the door to the next floor and climbing in, disappearing into her room as Peter rolled onto the landing. Peter followed her in. She’d disappeared into the bathroom to change.

“Why didn’t we just go the easy way?” Peter asked.

“Because I’m a coward who tries to avoid confrontation.” Lacey called back. “You didn’t have to come.”

“I know what you’re like; I didn’t want you hurting yourself. Or trying to scale the building.” Lacey came back out the bathroom, chilled in gym shorts and Peter’s t-shirt.

“I wasn’t _actually_ going to scale the building.”

“I wouldn’t put it past you.” Peter smiled. Lacey shrugged.

“I’ll try it one day while you’re out.” She winked at him.

“Did you hear what Tony and Steve were talking about?”

“No. Did you?”

“Tony wants to send you England.”

“The threat resurfaces.” She mused. “They can’t make me go. I could survive on my own – take one of Dad’s cards, buy an apartment, get a job – I’d be _fine._ Maybe I’ll take the free ticket to London.” She mused.

“If you left I’d come with you.” Peter promised.

“I wouldn’t want you to.”

“Clint didn’t tell anyone about last night, did he?”

“No, I made him swear he wouldn’t.”

“Good, because that’s another bodily organ I’m sure your Dad is quite prepared to chop off.” Peter squeaked. Lacey laughed.

“Dad only ever threatens – I don’t think I’ve ever seen him carry it through.” She shrugged. Peter was grimacing and rolling his shoulders in discomfort again. “Does you back still hurt? Let me have a look.”

“You just want to get my shirt off.” Peter smirked, taking the aforementioned shirt off and turning her back to her.

“The gash has split open again. There’s nothing you can do for back wounds really.” Lacey muttered.

“I’ll take a hug. Hugs make everything better.” Peter smiled, putting his shirt back on and surrounding Lacey in a bear hug.

“You’re too dorky for your own good, I swear.” Lacey smiled.

“I think you mean adorable.”

“Both.” She agreed. Peter kissed her again, pushing her back on the bed so he was hovering over her, still kissing her passionately. Lacey ran her hands through his hair, pulling him closer still.

There was a knock on the door and they jumped apart. “Yeah?” Lacey called.

“Lace, it’s me.” Tony shouted.

“Go, get in the bathroom.” Lacey whispered. Peter rolled off her and she walked to open the door as Peter locked the bathroom behind him. She opened the door to see both her father’s standing there.

Tony didn’t say anything; he was sticking his bottom jaw out, shifting his weight between his feet and putting his hands awkwardly in his pocket.

“Apologise.” Steve hissed.

“I’m sorry for being so rude to Peter, about Peter, about you both.”

“Thanks Dad.”

“Okay, bye.” Tony made his apology as brief as he could and walked away. “Still don’t approve.” He muttered. Lacey rolled her eyes; this was an argument they’d resume the next time they both wanted to use the workshop, without a shadow of a doubt.

“Are you alright?” Steve asked, not wanting her to be hurt by the whole thing.

“Fine. Bye now,” Lacey tried to shut the door, but Steve kept it open with his strong hand.

“Lace, we both know your Dad’s a bit difficult to reason with sometimes. But he’ll come round, I promise.”

“Have you come round?”

“Mostly.”

“Why mostly?”

“Because we live in a profession which is more than likely to get us killed. If he died I wouldn’t want to see you hurt. And vice versa – he’s going to stop aging soon, which means he _can’t_ die, and he’ll watch you grow old and he’ll have to carry on without you.” Steve explained.

“Same will happen to you and Dad.”

“The arc reactor,”

“Whatever. I don’t need to live forever to keep Peter happy – we’re happy with what we have now.” Lacey closed the door in Steve’s face. He called her name a few times, trying to get her to open it again but she didn’t. He gave up and left.

Peter came out from the bathroom and gave Lacey the much needed hug she required.

“You need some sleep.”

“No I don’t, I’m fine.” She argued. Peter lifted her bridal style, with much protestation from Lacey, and sat her on the bed. She knitted her eyebrows together and pouted.

“You look like a 3 year old that doesn’t want to go to bed.”

“This worked when I was 3.”

“Because you have Steve wrapped around your little finger. Do you want me to stay?”

“No, I’m okay.”

“Well, I think I need you right now.” Peter whined, tucking himself under the duvet and snuggling up next to her.

Lacey laughed, settling down to sleep next to Peter.


	10. Chapter 10

“Miss Potts, Mr Stark requires your presence in the workshop, Mr Parker too.” JARVIS stated.

“Nng, what?” Lacey asked; JARVIS woke her up.

“Mr Stark wants you and Mr Parker in the workshop.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“Okay.” Lacey mumbled, crawling out of Peter’s embrace and getting dressed before she woke Peter; she could kill time before she had to go talk to her Dad. She put on an old pair of jeans, one of her Dad’s old grey t-shirts that drowned her and a red checked shirt. She looked down at her feet and decided socks would be fine today.

She went back and sat on her bed. “Peter, Peter?” She shook him gently.

“5 more minutes.” He mumbled.

“Dad wants to talk to us.”

“That sounds positive.” Lacey couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not, but either way he still wasn’t getting up. She stood from the bed and took the bottom two corners of the duvet in her hand, whipping it off Peter.

“Argh, no, cold, duvet, back, now.” He moaned.

“No, go get dressed. You can sleep when we’re done.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Gimme 10 minutes.” He rushed from the bed and ran down to his room, inspired by the thought of climbing back into bed an hour or two later, when Tony had given them whatever shouting he would have done last night if they hadn’t been in a restaurant.

He showered quickly, redressing and meeting Lacey in the corridor, shaking his head like a wet puppy when he met her, little droplets of water splashing her.

“It’s worse when I do that with my hair. I shall get my revenge.” She smirked.

“Oh no, I am most afraid.” Peter whined melodramatically, falling to his knees.

“You’ll get an Oscar in no time. Now move; Daddy wants us.”

“Wouldn’t you rather see some more Oscar worthy acting?”

“You’re putting this off.” She began to walk away. “It might be good news – he wouldn’t have apologised last night if he wanted to tell us off today.”

“Steve made him.”

“Even with Pops making him, he wouldn’t have said it without some sort of meaning behind it. Dad’s not that bad. You’re making him out to be worse than he really is.” Lacey defended him.

“Sorry.” Peter mumbled.

“Let’s just go see what he wants.” Lacey decided, heading towards the workshop, taking Peter’s hand as they neared, just in case Tony assumed they weren’t going out anymore because they weren’t at it like rabbits when he apologised last night, like he and Steve usually are. But Lacey didn’t like to think of that.

Tony was alone and had an oil stain across his forehead when Lacey and Peter interrupted. “Dad? JARVIS said you wanted to see us.”

“Oh yes. I wanted to apologise, Peter, for last night, well, I didn’t _want_ to apologise but Steve talked me into it and JARVIS said I should and-”

“Dad?” Lacey interrupted.

“Yeah?”

“You’re rambling again.”

“Oh, okay. I’ve mostly got my head round it. And JARVIS made a list of pros and cons for me. Top of the pros list is that you can protect her Peter, she’ll always be safe with you, and she better be. Or you’ve got her Ultimate Protectors to answer to. And Iron Man. Not just Iron Man but Angry Iron Man.”

“I will look after her, I promise.”

“And I don’t want grandchildren yet!” Tony barked.

“Dad!” Lacey protested.

“No impregnating my daughter till she’s at least 30!”

“Dad.”

“Okay, 25.”

“You’re impossible.”

“I’m not going lower than 25.”

“The only ‘grandchildren’ you’re getting are robots, when I finish my baby you’ll love her as much as I do.” Lacey glanced at the pile of metal, plans, bits of a paper and a laptop for coding in the corner; the robot in the making.

“Why are we talking about grandchildren?” Peter cringed.

“Sorry, yes, you both have my permission to go out or whatever.” Tony was bored again now; he just wanted to resume working.

“You won’t send me to England, will you Dad?”

“England. Who said anything about England?”

“You know I’m the best eavesdropper in the world.”

“I was thinking about it. I was worked up, Papa calmed me down. He knows I don’t mean any of it. Though if you want a holiday to England I can do that. If you do want to study in England I wouldn’t mind that, I’ll be very proud of you when you go to Cambridge to study mechanics and technology.”

“I’m not going to Cambridge Dad.”

“Good, I hear the weather is awful.”

“You’re very agreeable. Have you drunk anything today?”

“Certainly not. It’s before 10am, why would I do that? After 10am is I different story. No, Natasha brought in a stash of Tootsies. I ate about 4 packets.”

“No!” Peter muttered, running from the workshop.

“What’s got into him?”

“I think Natasha got all the Tootsies from his room.”

“That many? How much does that boy eat?”

“Lots, apparently. You shouldn’t eat Tootsies, ever again.” Lacey warned him, walking round the work bench to stand next to him.

“No, I feel great. They’re great.”

“You _sure_ you’re alright with me and Peter?”

“He was right last night, so were you – he’s the best guy you’re going to get, in regards to my standards, and he’s right; I don’t want to let go of my little girl, it was nothing to do with him.”

“Thanks Dad.”

“How was last night?”

“Last night?”

“I know you and Peter were in the same room.”

“Nothing happened.”

“You two are rubbish teenagers.”

“You built JARVIS when you were a teenager.”

“In between all the parties.”

“You didn’t go to parties and you know it. Stop asking what we did last night. I don’t want to discuss this with you.”

“I’ll just embarrass you at your wedding then.”

“Dad, I’m 18,”

“I know, I didn’t mean any time soon.”

“You better not.”

“I need a hand; hold this.” Tony grabbed her hand and put it on the piece of metal Tony wanted to weld to another piece of metal.

“What’re you making?”

“I’m making new legs for the suit – they were scratched and wearing thin after the fight with the robot cat creature things. I noticed you stored that in your lab.”

“It’s a phenomenal bit of technology, as long as it doesn’t come back to life and bite my head off, I intend to decapitate it and try and recreate it.” Lacey explained her intentions. “And JARVIS made sure it was dead before I brought it in.”

“With Peter and Nat out of action we might need another appearance from the Blue Iron Man. I’ve been thinking about the name! The best one I came up with was Not-As-Good-As-Iron-Man-Because-The-Coding’s-Rubbish or Aluminium Man.”

“Wow.”

“I know, right?”

“I mean, wow. You must have spent a whole 30 seconds thinking of those.”

“It was a long a painful minute.”

“There’s too many ‘man’s on the team already. And I’m not a man.”

“Well observed.”

“Why don’t we just leave it anonymous until we’re asked specifically what it’s called?”

“Ooh, mysterious. ‘Unknown’. How well does that scan, JARVIS?”

“Very well, sir.”

“It’ll do. I’ve made the code more complicated now, it’s much more precise. You’ll still be able to work it but it won’t be as simple as it was before.”

“I’ll be fine. It’ll give you a decent sparring partner and you might actually do some training now.” Lacey teased.

“Oh no, you’ll never get me in that ring with a robot again. Remember last time?”

“You actually broke a sweat because you _actually_ did some work – it won’t kill you Dad.”

“Get in one of the suits; _then_ I’ll fight you.”

“ _Mom_ will fight you and probably kill you.”

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

“You could _build_ a better sparring partner and you’d enjoy it much more than fighting me. You’ve never fought me properly.”

“I don’t want to hurt you sweetheart. You’ve got another Doctor’s appointment on Thursday, by the way.”

“Today’s Thursday.”

“Oh, I’ll rebook it for next Thursday then.”

“It’s only 9.30,”

“You know I always book your appointments for 9am, and then I can be there. Any later and we might be interrupted if you know what I mean.”

“I always know what you mean.”

“We get each other, you and I.”

“That we do. That’s probably something to do with being related.”

“We understand each other’s programming.”

“That’s something I should do, control Iron Man while you’re inside.”

“That could actually kill me.”

“That or require less work from you and you could still take all the credit.”

“Me? Take credit for work I’ve not done? Never.”

“Hey Dad, what happens when you guys stay young and, like, me and Mom get old?”

“I try to avoid thinking about that.”

“I don’t want to leave Peter or Papa or you behind.”

“Is this about Banner’s Vaccine again?”

“No, no, his Vaccine improves everything – that would make me super-human. I just want immortality.”

“’Just’.”

“Dad, please,”

“I’ll work on it.”

“Really?”

“I don’t want to lose you, Lace. I don’t want to change you either, but you asked me and we’ll offer it to your mother so she can’t tell me off.”

Lacey smiled. “Thanks Dad.”

“Now either go do, whatever you spend all day every day doing and leave me to work in peace or help me.” Tony teased. “I can always use an extra pair of hands.”

“I love you, Dad.” Lacey smiled.

“Come on then.” He laughed.

.

The Tootsies were gone. All of them. Every last packet.

Peter skulked through the corridors of the Avengers building heading for the kitchen, hoping to bump into Natasha and claim all his Tootsies back or steal the remains back, but Tony was high as a kite – who knew how _Clint_ would react or how many he’d had.

Peter bumped into Steve before he bumped into Natasha.

“Aah, Peter I was hoping to have a word. I’m _so sorry_ about Tony and I’s reaction to Lacey’s news last night – it was out of order and very rude.” Steve apologised profusely.

“No, no, it’s fine. It’s not the worst reception I’ve had from a dad.”

“Really?”

“Well, yes, but I wasn’t going to say that.”

“You’re a gentleman Peter – I like that. I think you and Lacey are a great couple and I give you my best wishes. You’re perfect for each other, I’m happy she’s got someone like you.” Steve continued.

“Err, thanks Steve.” Peter tried not to sound too surprised, but Steve seemed to have gone from hating the idea to loving it in mere hours. “What you said last night, about her dying and us living on. I had never thought about that.”

“I said that to her, how did you-”

“I was hiding in the bathroom.”

“Of course. You didn’t…?”

“No. Though Tony talked of grandchildren, or not having them.”

“You wouldn’t…?!”

“No! I’m 21, I don’t want… that’s like, _responsibility_.”

“And being Spider-Man isn’t enough responsibility?”

“Far too much.”

“She’s 18, Peter, just remember that.” Steve reminded him. “Oh, and I hid your Tootsies in the draw with the other confectionaries – only Tony’s had any.” Steve smiled.

“Thank you!” Peter rushed, running to the kitchen to collect his sweets back. He zipped up his hoodie and piled them inside and walked down to the workshop to re-join Lacey and Tony, taking out a packet and calling it breakfast on the way.

He walked into the workshop, his cheeks half full of Tootsies; Lacey and Tony both looked up at him. “I got the Tootsies back.” He smiled sheepishly.

“You can stay if you share them.” Tony bribed.

“Done.” Peter agreed, emptying his hoodie onto the work surface as they all gorged on the treats.

“Peter, today is the day you learn about the world of Iron Man.”

“Iron Man or Tony Stark-Rogers?”

“Tony leads a much more interesting life-style, but Iron Man’s more moral.”

“What’re you making?”

“Nothing new – replacing the legs on my suit.”

“I’m going to go decapitate a large robotic cat if you’d like to join me.” Lacey offered. Peter scooped up the Tootsies again and followed her.

“See you later Tony.” Peter called over his shoulder.

“JARVIS, order some Tootsies. Like, thousands of Tootsies.” Tony instructed.

Peter followed Lacey to her lab like a loyal little puppy, dumping all the Tootsies on the pristine white surface, one of the many white tables, equal distance away from the dead creature and the door; so Peter could guard them. He sat on one of the stools and watched Lacey – she was stroking the fur covered robot.

“Lace, you know it’s dead? It was never really alive.”

“I know, but it’s soft.” She muttered, walking away from it and over and Peter. “I don’t want to work on it today anyway, that was just to get away from Dad.” Lacey explained, pushing Peter’s knee’s apart with hers and standing between his legs, wrapping her arms around his neck and locking their lips. “If I tell them I’m working then they won’t interrupt.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Peter agreed, putting his hand on her hips, pulling her closer. “I just told your Pops I hadn’t done anything with you.”

“Let’s turn that into a lie.” Lacey smirked.

“It already is.” He laughed, his eyes flicking to the window in the door – keeping tabs to make sure no on walked past.

“It’s one way glass – anyone who walks past sees their own reflection.” Lacey noticed his glance.

“So we could do anything and no one would know?” Peter smirked against Lacey’s lips, slipping his hands from her waist to crawl up her t-shirt, tickling her stomach before settling back on her hips.

Lacey giggled. “Not a thing. And I disabled JARVIS in this room a long time ago.” She tugged on the bottom of Peter’s shirt, letting her cold fingers pass his warm skin and make him shiver, pulling the shirt over his head and throwing it on the work top.

The door opened and Lacey spun the chair Peter was sitting on round, putting her hands on his back and looking intently at his gash. Bruce had walked in, now awkwardly pushing his glasses up his nose and trying to avoid looking at the topless boy in the lab.

“Tony said you were investigating the creature. I wondered if you needed any help.” Bruce explained.

“Oh yes. I was going to but Peter’s back was hurting him so I was taking a look. But I’ll be fine on my own, thank you Bruce.” Lacey smiled gratefully.

“Oh, okay, if you’re sure. I’m just next door if you want anything.” Bruce offered.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Oh, and regarding the vaccine I created – I’m sorry Lace, I wouldn’t want to give it to you.”

“I don’t want it! If I wanted it that badly I’d have made my own.” Lacey protested.

“I can work on the aging thing though.”

“Thank Bruce.” And he was gone.

Peter spun himself back round.

“Don’t get me all _excited_ like that and not follow through.” He smirked, hands back on Lacey’s hips, lips reunited. “It’s a good job you’re quick or he’d have caught us.” He added. “Wait, what aging thing?” He pulled away.

“It’s just what Pops said last night – I don’t want you all mourning my death when I die. Now can we,” Lacey moved back in but Peter stood, pulling his shirt back on.

“Lace, I don’t want you to change for my sake. I want you the way you are.”

“And I don’t want to be an 80 year old woman going out with a 21 year old boy.”

“That doesn’t matter to me.”

“It matters to me. I’m going to look older than my Dad, Pops, everyone.” Lacey persisted. “If the Blue Iron Man is becoming a permanent feature of the Avengers, it’s programmer surely deserves to stay alive?” Peter didn’t change his stern expression. “Think of when your Uncle Ben died, Peter. Maybe _we_ won’t last that long, but imagine that happened to me.”

“No,” Peter immediately protested.

“Imagine Dad, Pops, Clint, Natasha, Bruce and Thor all feeling the same thing. Maybe not all as strongly but the same grief.” Lacey explained. “That’s why I want to do this.”

“I’m sorry, I never thought of it that way.” Peter mumbled.

“I just want you to understand why.”

“You won’t change anything else thought, will you? No extra powers or super genes?”

“No. I’m happy with who I am. Bar one faulty organ.”

“There’s nothing wrong with having a faulty organ. Except, the fault.” Lacey laughed. “I’ve completely ruined ‘the moment’, haven’t I?”

“A bit yeah, but I told Bruce I was going to start examining our buddy over there, so I might as well.” Lacey smiled. “It’s all robotics, well covered, well programmed robotics. We need to skin it, get down to the bare bones of it then decipher the technology.”

“Skin it?”

“We can’t examine it with the fur covering the machine, can we?”

“Skinning a robot; sounds weird. What I don’t get, is how one cloned robotic brain can be so different from another – they all had different fighting styles; different tactics.”

“That makes things a little more interesting.”

“What do you think it is?”

“They might all be wired in slightly different ways. Or maybe they have lenient programming.”

“The ones towards the end were more similar to each other.”

“Of course,” Lacey realised.

“What?”

“The first few hundred weren’t made especially for the Avengers; they’ve had time to alter their own coding, creating creatures with their own personalities, if you want to put it that way. When it looked like you were winning, their creator panicked and mass produced new ones – no time to develop and change.”

Peter nodded in agreement. He was now intrigued enough to spend the rest of the day helping Lacey take the creature apart, bit by bit.


	11. Chapter 11

They would have been in the astronomy tower if it weren’t for the meteorite shower and Bruce’s request to watch it. So instead Peter and Lacey were in the gym, lying on their backs in the boxing ring, looking out the skylight in the roof at the stars.

“This isn’t quite as romantic as I anticipated.” Peter muttered.

“No, no, it’s great. I love looking at the stars, especially with the slightly sweat tinged smell of the gym.” Lacey laughed.

“We could have just gone on the roof.”

“It’s cold.”

“We could cuddle.”

“You’re adorably cute and a huge kiss ass in equal measure.” Lacey smiled, leaning over and kissing his cheek. She snuggled into his chest regardless; initiating cuddling.

“Not as cute as you.” He whispered in her ear, tickling her hair.

Lacey blushed, giggling to herself. “Plus, the ground's really hard on the roof.”

“That’s how concrete tends to work.”

“Why didn’t we just stay in the astronomy tower with Bruce?”

“Because, however much of a nice guy Bruce is, that would have been even less romantic than this.”

“Why don’t we just go out for dinner next time?”

“I was trying to think of something more imaginative and maybe slightly cheaper way of impressing you.”

“You don’t need to impress me – I’m still impressed by the whole Spider-Man thing, if I’m being honest.”

“Maybe we can make you some Spidey-shooters. Then I can train you to use them while you train me.”

“Mutual training, I like the idea. And it’ll give you and Dad a chance to bond over something he understands – technology and programming.”

"Maybe not. I think the whole Avengers thing is quite good at bringing us all together. And I was nominated to bring him to bed the other night; no one knew he'd been drinking."

"You dealt with drunk Dad? Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry." Lacey cuddled his chest tighter.

"He talks about you a lot when he's drunk."

"I've never been allowed near him when he's drunk, in case he offers me any and we end up drunk in the workshop together."

"Would you get drunk with your Dad?"

"I'd pretend to so I could tease him the next day. That'd be fun."

"Have you ever been? Drunk, I mean."

"No. I can't buy alcohol yet, can I? And Pops is a 40s Dad, I won't drink in his presence till I'm 30."

"Do you want to come for dinner and meet my aunt?" Peter blurted, he'd been building up the courage to ask for the past 10 minutes.

Lacey smiled. "I'd love to."

"Thank god. I know she'll love you."

"I assume she'll give me a better reception that Dad and Pops gave you."

"You timed it well - they couldn't kick off in that restaurant."

"That was the plan." Lacey smirked.

“Peter,” Bruce interrupted. “Big thing downtown, we’ve gotta go.” Lacey sat up, unwinding herself from Peter as he stood, jogging after Bruce.

“I’ll see you later.” Peter called as he left. Lacey stood, wondering round the gym in denim shorts and the sleeve-less shirt that wasn’t appropriate for any gym work. She pulled her fluffy socks up her legs so they didn’t fall off and headed for the archery range.

“JARVIS, can you play a decent news coverage of what’s going on?”

“I’m afraid they’re all using incorrect terminology and not keeping up with the Avengers. Would you like me to describe their actions, Miss?”

“No, it’s okay. Tell me if they want the remote control bot again.”

“Of course, Miss.”

Lacey picked up her favourite hand gun and a pair of headphones. Her safety wasn’t often her first concern but she’d tried shooting without the earphones once and realised how truly deafening it really was, and had worn them ever since.

She fired 3 consecutive shots, the second 2 bullets following exactly in the path of the first, only one hole left in the yellow ‘10’ section of the target. Lacey smiled to herself and pulled the headphones off. A pair of hands grabbed her shoulders and put a hand over her mouth, forcing her to swallow some sort of tablets. She felt herself being shoved in some sort of sack and dragged away. She started to scream but whatever she’d been forced to swallow started to act and her consciousness began to fade. She kicked and screamed with all of her might. The bag was dropped and she tried to scramble out but the walls were spinning, she could barely grip the floor to crawl away. Her hands and feet were tied together, she was gagged and had another bag put over her head. But she was unconscious by then.

Someone had drugged and kidnapped Lacey Potts.

.

The Avengers were all connected by in-ear operators again and to JARVIS, as the extended communication meant they could be further apart and not lose each other.

Peter and Clint were on the roof, fighting from the skies.

“Pete, behind you.” Tony warned. Peter turned and fired at the soldier behind him, sending them flying backwards and off the roof.

“Thanks Tony.” Peter breathed. “What are we even fighting?”

“I don’t know, but there’s hundreds, if not thousands of them.” Tony replied.

.

Lacey had come round about 10 minutes ago. She’d been taken out the bag and was sat on the floor of a helicopter with her hands tied behind her back, her ankles tied and her mouth gagged. She tried to stand but fell on her chin, scraping the skin and grinding her teeth. She moaned, rolling over and sitting up again.

“Where am I?” She asked, focusing on one man in a balaclava.

“We’ve not got far yet. You’re more resistant to those drugs than most kids we kidnap.”

“How many kids are you kidnapping?”

“Mostly lost ones; lost ones that don’t know how powerful they are.”

“What, like, mutated kids? The X Men?”

“X Men, lost superheroes, the daughter of Iron Man – whatever we can manage.”

“What for? Why kidnap kids when you could kidnap adults?”

“Kids get scared; they do whatever you tell them to. You’re a bit too confident; we might have to teach you a lesson or two.”

“Could the first one be in Japanese? I’ve not done it for a while, I need to brush up.” Lacey smirked, the guy smacked her and she fell to the floor again. 

"Definitely your father’s daughter."

"No shit Sherlock." She muttered and he smacked her again. She couldn’t fight back while her hands and feet were tied but if she could stand up she could throw herself at the guy and it might cause some damage. She tried pulling at her feet while the guy picked a weapon from his array – the rope was looser than she thought, she could pull her feet out if she just got them at the right angle.

The guy was walking slowly towards her with a nice pipe to batter her a bit, as nice guards do. He didn’t notice her struggling feet. He was only a meter away when her foot was free and the managed to smack the pipe from his grasp, fighting solely with her feet as her hands were tied more tightly.

She kicked for all she was worth, giving him a bloody nose and a broken thumb but he knocked her straight out with a punch to the eye and a kick to the ribs.

.

“JARVIS, get Lacey, we could use the extra help.” Tony asked.

“Miss Pott's been taken Sir. Director Fury is tracking the helicopter she was taken by.”

“Taken? What do you mean taken?” Peter intervened, a similar response from Steve at the same time.

“She was kidnapped.”

“By who?” Tony remained level headed while Steve and Peter protested, getting worked up and scared.

“We can’t be sure – they were wearing masks.”

“Where’s the helicopter now, JARVIS?” Peter asked.

“About 30 feet away from you, Mr Parker.”

“Clint, you okay up here?”

“I’m fine, go get her Peter.”

Peter scanned the skies, seeing the vague and supposedly hidden lights of a helicopter above his head. He shot at it and grabbed hold, pulled from the roof and jerking the helicopter to one side.

He grabbed the handle to the door, tugging at it until it opened and broke simultaneously.

.

Lacey came round again about 10 minutes after she’d been knocked out, she tried to stand again but she’d been tied to some sort of pole, her feet more securely tied, digging in to the skin on her ankles, her head throbbing.

“Don’t even bother – we’re hundreds of feet above New York, what would you do it you could get out?” The same deep husky voice of her guard teased from opposite her. She moaned; she felt bruised and he’d definitely hit her head while she was out to go with the blood now dried on her chin from her first attempt to stand up.

The helicopter was jerked to one side, the other men stumbling and falling whereas Lacey was secured to the pole. The door was flung open and a blur of blue and red jumped into the helicopter. The masked man that had teased Lacey stood.

“Spider-Man?”

“You don’t kidnap a young girl from the Avengers Tower and get away with it.” Peter growled, punching the man, refraining from rolling him out of the helicopter. Peter fought off two other guys and the continued shaking of the light vehicle caused Lacey to jerk from side to side. “Here.” Peter slid a knife in her direction and she nudged it behind her with her feet, once it was secure in her hand she started sawing at one of the ropes behind her, unsure whether it was the rope tying her hands together or the rope tying her to the pole that she was cutting. Moments later the rope was free but Lacey’s hands were not. She fumbled with the knife, dropping it as the helicopter drooped on one side from the fighting still going on with Spider-Man and the guards. She rolled towards the door, screaming as she slid out. She heard Peter grunt, shooting a web towards her and leaving her hanging above the city.

Lacey didn’t mind heights all the much, she didn’t mind being tied up and kidnapped as much as she thought she would, she’d been relatively calm up until this point, but hanging out of a helicopter with her hands tied behind her back, no control over her own limbs, scared her more than anything else. She was breathing heavily, trying not to scream or cry. She kept her eyes firmly closed, even when she felt Peter’s familiar arms round her and his controlled swinging.

He stopped on the rooftop that Clint was still on, untying her hands and starting to unknot her fluffy-socked feet as she pulled the cloth from her mouth. Peter helped her to her feet and hugged her tight, feeling her shaking under his touch.

“Ssh, ssh, it’s okay, I’ve got you.” He whispered soothingly in her ear.

“Pete, I hate to say it but I need a hand here, mate.” Clint called over the sound of panic on the streets. Peter lowered Lacey to the ground, her legs were shaking and she couldn’t stand. He lifted his mask, kissing her forehead and lowering it again and rushing to help Clint. She curled her knees into her chest and tried to control her breathing and her frantically beating heart.

“Tony, Steve, she’s safe.” Peter reported back.

“Thank god.” Steve muttered.

“Is she alright?” Tony asked.

“Bit bruised, freaking out a little, but mostly fine I think.” Peter answered.

“Peter! The helicopter’s back.” Natasha warned him. He shot a web at the man hanging out the door, knocking him back inside. Lacey screamed and scrambled to her feet, running for Peter and Clint, leaning with her back on the wall they were standing on; looking terrified.

“Do I really need to fight you again?” Peter called to the man with dried blood under his nose. He scowled and 5 of them jumped out, leaving only one man to fly. The one with a bloodied nose attacked first, Peter began hand to hand combat, blocking and attacking at much as he could but the others were getting closer – he couldn’t take on more than one at a time.

One fell dead at his side with an arrow sticking through his chest and another turned to be greeted with a kick in the face from Lacey. They took two thugs each, Clint keeping a keen eye on them, ready to fire anything he must to help.

All 5 were unconscious or dead on the roof and the helicopter was flying away.

Lacey fell breathlessly to the ground, scared, tired and cold in the night air.

“Take her back to the tower, Peter.” Clint suggested.

“You sure you’ll be alright?”

“Tony’s hovering – he’ll help me if I need it. Go!” Clint instructed. Lacey wrapped her arms round Peter’s neck and he flew back to Avengers Tower, landing on the roof and taking off his mask.

“Are you alright?” He asked. Lacey put the mask back on, conscious that the press normally followed wherever an Avenger went.

“I-I’m alright. Go help Clint – they need you more than I do.”

“That’s not true.”

“It is – go!” Peter was told for the second time in less than 10 minutes. Peter turned to go back to the fight when he saw the others coming back. He picked Lacey up and carried her inside and the others followed behind him. “Put me down! I can walk.” Lacey instructed, the independent character that she was.

“I think you’re having a panic attack.”

“I’m not panicking,”

“Why’s your pulse racing then?”

“Because my feet aren’t on the ground!” Lacey persisted and Peter put her down, gently and slowly removing her arm from round his shoulder. “I’m not fragile.”

“You’ve been hit round the head, be careful.” Peter warned.

“I’m fine.” Lacey took three steps and her knee buckled, Peter caught her. He put her arm back round his shoulders and walked holding her up.

“Control room. Now.” Tony barked, storming past them both, furious not only that Lacey had been kidnapped but that she’d been kidnapped by someone intelligent enough to pick a hole in _his_ security protocols.

“Nope, medical room first.” Bruce intervened; putting Lacey’s other arm round his shoulders and leading them to the lift and down to the medical room.

They got Lacey sat on the bed and Bruce gave her a full medical examination – it was mostly just bruising, a minor head injury, panic attack wearing off.

“Take this.” Bruce offered her a small, colourless concoction.

“What is it?”

“It’ll make you feel better.”

“It won’t knock me out, will it?”

“No, it’ll just make you feel better I swear.” Bruce promised. Lacey rolled her eyes, taking the small bottle and downing it in one. Her face scrunched up as she swallowed the liquid.

“That’s repulsive.”

“I said it’ll make you feel better not that it’ll tickle your taste buds. I better get up to the control room before your Dad explodes, can you clean her up a bit?” Bruce asked Peter. He nodded and Bruce left.  
Peter got a cloth and a bowl of water, dabbing at the wounds on Lacey’s eye and chin. There wasn’t much blood but the cold cloth was refreshing on Lacey’s skin.

“How’re you feeling?” Peter asked.

“Better. I’m just a bit shaken – I’ve never been involved in any Avengers business in the field. It was scary.”

“It won’t happen again. I promise.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep. It wasn’t your fault Peter.”

“I still feel guilty.”

“You shouldn’t.”

“But I do.”

“There was nothing you could have done to change what happened.”

“I know, but I still feel guilty. They would have got you back if Natasha hadn’t told me the helicopter was back.”

“Peter, none of this is your fault. Not yours, not mine; no one here. Only theirs."

“What’s your Dad going to do to keep you safe?”

“I don’t know. But whatever he chooses will be temporary – I’ll be back soon.”

“We should probably go find out what he has to say – we were meant to be in the control room who knows how long ago.”

“Give me a minute.” Lacey breathed. “What’s your aunt like?”

“Aunt May’s the closest thing I’ve got to a Mom. She’s great, she’s a bit like Pepper – very caring, always worried-”

“Damn it, I forgot how Mom would react to all this. Sorry, continue.”

“I was about done. Continue your rant about Pepper.” Peter smiled.

“She’s going to freak out so much. The black eye, the cut chin and the fact I was kidnapped. Oh my gosh, panicky Mom is almost as scary as drunk Dad.”

“Wow, really? That’s a lot of scary.”

“I know. Pops doesn’t really have a scary mood, except that one time he got _really_ angry with Dad. That’s only come out once though, ever.”

“I can see that much muscle being scary when angry.”

“Papa’s a sweetheart.”

“He follows your Dad around like a puppy.”

“He _bought_ Dad a puppy.”

“Tony… and a puppy?”

“Papa was so excited about the damn thing that Dad even accepted it without telling him he hated it. I got to look after the puppy. Dad ‘accidentally’ injured it enough to send it to one of those dog care homes.” Lacey laughed a little. Peter smiled at Lacey’s reminiscing.

“We should really get going now, before your Dad ‘accidentally’ injures us and sends us to a care home for decrepit superheroes.”

“He’d send us to Xavier’s school – he always jokes about that place.”

“C’mon,” Peter encouraged. “Before you start telling me more of your stories.”

“Okay.” Lacey stood, weighing up whether she was going to fall over again, taking tentative then more confident steps when she discovered that whatever Bruce had given her worked quickly and _really well_.


	12. Chapter 12

The Avengers took action against the kidnapping of Lacey Potts immediately.

"Take her to the safe house in Manhattan; Steve go with her." Tony instructs.

"I'm going." Peter interrupts.

"No - there's too much emotion, if anyone was to find her you'd sacrifice yourself. No, we need you here."

"And there's less emotion with me? I'm an acting Father figure Tony." Steve argues.

"I know. But Banner would start talking science and get distracted, Romanoff gets fidgety when guarding and Thor doesn't fit through the door - we had this problem last time." Tony barked.

“What about me?” Clint asked.

“You’re more use here.”

"But why me?" Lacey interrupted, feeling a little out of place with all the super-heroes; she was normally gently shoved out the room and debriefing meetings.

"Well, you're the victim you definitely have to go." Tony answered in his usual sarcastic manor. There was synchronised eye-rolling from the rest of the team before anyone got back on topic.

"What _about_ you?" Natasha questioned the question.

"Have any of you stopped to think why they're targeting me? I'm not a super-hero; I'm not a threat - why are they coming after me?"

"You're deep inside the Avengers network - you know things more than anyone that works here, you know us all _personally_. You know what makes us tick and with you they can bring the Avengers down from the inside."

"If I died you guys would carry on as normal, why am I such a big deal?"

"Don't you dare!" Peter grabbed her hand instinctively. "You're a big deal to all of us."

"Lacey, I don't think you quite understand; I'm your _Dad_ , Tony, this is your Papa, Steve and that’s your,” Tony paused, not comfortable with the word he was about to use. “Boyfriend, Peter - if you die, we mourn. After kicking the shit out of the guy that killed you." Tony grabbed her shoulders, making sure he had her undivided attention.

"And that's why they want her - if she's kidnapped you guys get really angry and don't think straight, walk straight into their traps." Natasha observed and explained.

"Where's my baby? If you let her get kidnapped I will personally kick all of your asses before making you go find her and not letting you come back until you do." Pepper barged in, screaming her head off.

"I'm here Mom." Lacey sighed.

"Oh my god, sweetheart are you alright? You didn't get hurt did you?"

"Mom, I'm fine." Lacey dismissed her mother's worrying, but Pepper only saw the graze on her chin and her black eye.

"Pepper, we're trying to devise a plan here." Tony interrupted.

"I'm going to Manhattan with her."

"No, then there's two people to protect."

"I don't care." Pepper narrowed her eyes at Tony, preparing herself to begin shouting at him, when Coulson rushed in, escorting her out.

"You'll be much more helpful here." He muttered.

"But she's my daughter! I'm not letting her safety be compromised because," Their voices faded to nothing as the door shut behind them.

"Steve, Lace, you have 20 minutes to pack before you leave." Tony instructed.

"And what are you going to do?" Lacey asked.

"We wait."

.

Peter went with Lacey - helping her pack. She packed the essentials, for a maximum of three days and stood in the centre of the room. Peter walked towards her, taking both her hands in his own and kissing her. Lacey's hands trailed up his arms to his shoulders, where they paused for a moment before pursuing their path to the back of his neck, and lingering there.

"I'm scared Peter." She whispered.

"You'll be alright - Steve's all geared up and Tony will never let anything happen to his little girl."

"I meant for you." She drew their lips closer once more, though Peter was resistant. He held her gaze, just for that moment longer, so moved by her words.

He moved his hands to her neck and reconnected them in a surge of passion and love, creating a spark not even the Great Tony Stark could bottle.

There was a knock on the door and the pair drew apart, looking up but still intertwined. It was Steve.

"We've got to go." He grimaced, wanting to leave about as much as Peter wanted them to go; little to none.

Lacey lay her head on Peter's chest and wrapped her arms round his waist, he hugged her back.

"I’m going to miss you, so much." He whispered, tears welling in his eyes, his chin balancing on her head, his hand cupping the back of her head and stroking her hair.

"I’ll miss you too.”

“I've never been this worried about a mission before.”

“Just remember all the Spider-Man stuff, and the pew, pew,” Lacey curled her ring and middle finger into her palm and pretended to shoot webs from her wrists. Peter laughed at her and took her back-pack with her belongings for the next few days and slung it over his shoulder, taking her hand as they left the room.

Steve had been waiting outside and led them to an underground car park that Peter didn’t know existed. He threw Lacey’s bag in the back and waited with Steve for Tony to finish talking to her. Peter had never seen Tony look so solemn, nor as genuine as he pulled Lacey in for a tight hug.

“I’ll look after her Peter.” Steve nudged his younger team-mate with his elbow, flashing his million dollar smile to try and cheer him up.

“I know.” But he remained sad. “Sorry Steve, I just won’t feel comfortable until you’re both home safe; no threats.”

“I’ve got my suit, if there’s any danger anywhere near the safe house – I’ll save her I promise.”

Lacey came back over to Peter, throwing her arms around his neck and stopping any further conversation with Steve. Steve wanted to talk to Tony anyway.

“We’ll save her Steve, we can do it.” Tony said as Steve approached.

“I know that. Now you just need to convince yourself.”

“I’ve never been nervous. I’ve always been able to trust what I’ve created. Now I’m more scared than I’ve ever been.” Tony admitted.

“Look at them,” Steve whispered. Tony looked up at Lacey and Peter, just holding each other. “It’s moments like this that inspire you to fight. They’re a beautiful couple, she’s a beautiful daughter, I’m proud of her, I know you’re proud; _so let’s keep it going_.”

Tony quickly silenced Steve with a kiss, showing he believed what he was saying, and that Peter and Lacey weren’t the only ones that were going to inspire him to fight.

“We’ll carry on searching – maybe we can find these people before they find us, or more specifically her.”

“I’ll only use the bunker if necessary.”

“Don’t tell her about it – she’ll never let you do it.”

“I know. I won’t. I love you.”

“I love you too. Now go, before I change my mind.” Tony smirked and they hugged one last time, before pulling Lacey and Peter apart and getting her in the car. Steve climbed in the driver’s seat and Lacey in the back passenger seat, behind blackened windows. Steve rolled down his window.

“The car’s undetectable by radar but it’s more than likely they’ll have cameras and they’ll see you. Cars go in and out of this place all the time, unless they have men on the ground they won’t know it’s you Cap. Good luck.” Tony informed them.

The drive from Central New York to the suburban house in Manhattan usually took 20 minutes, but Steve was very cautious of being followed and took a few ‘wrong turnings’ and doubled back on himself just to lose anyone that may have considering following them. They got there in just under an hour. It was nearing 11pm by the time they pulled up the drive.

This Manhattan suburb was the perfect location for a safe house – sparsely populated so that any threats could be easily identified and dealt with but densely populated enough to blend in and hide anyone that needed protecting if the situation ever arose, which it had. But empty at this time of night.

Lacey had been to the Manhattan house before, but only to check of its safety when the Avengers had set it up (this is where they discovered Thor was too big for doors in suburban houses). She went straight to the room she’d decided was hers and dumped her back-pack before settling herself on the couch in the living room, checking her phone, but no contact was allowed while they were in isolation at the safe house. Even her Mom wasn’t allowed to call.

“What’s on TV nowadays?” Steve asked, sitting at the other end of the sofa, having detoured to get an ice-cold beer from the fridge first.

“I have no idea. Dad says I can’t have a TV in my room, Mom agrees with him.”

“I was never consulted about this,”

“It’s fine Pops; if I wanted to watch anything I’d do it on my computer.”

“If you’re sure. How do you turn this thing on?” Steve pointed at the TV. Lacey got up and handed him the remote.

“That button turns it on and off, that button turns the volume up and down and the other one is for channel hopping. I’m going to go to my room.”

“Are you alright?” Steve questioned, instantly worried.

“I don’t like this arrangement.” She gestured around the living room and Steve assumed she meant the whole event with the safe house, not the feng shui of the room. “I just need to be on my own.” Lacey muttered, leaving her phone on the couch and leaving the living room.

Steve ‘channel hopped’ for a few minutes before becoming intrigued by a programme named the X Factor – wondering if it had anything to do with the X Men he continued watching. He was disappointed to discover that it was just some members of the American public singing and being harshly judged by a panel of celebrities.

Steve saw through to the end of the episode and resumed channel hopping, ending up back on another episode of the X Factor. He quickly turned the TV off and headed upstairs to Lacey’s room. He opened the door and called her name but got no response.

He listened carefully and heard loud music with a heavy backbeat coming from the small gym Tony had installed when he realised they didn’t need two kitchens on the first floor.

Lacey had strapped up her hands and was rapidly punching the bag attached to the ceiling. She heard Steve open the door and let a few more lazy punches fly, slowing and holding the bag, burying her face in the red leather.

Lacey was sobbing quietly.

“JARVIS; turn the music off please.” Steve requested, moving slowly towards the shaking punch bag. “What’s wrong, Lace?” He asked, standing on the other side of the punch bag, holding it and curving his head round to see Lacey’s fiery red hair cascading down her shoulders.

“I’ve never been this scared before.” She whispered. Steve pulled her into a hug and she sobbed into his chest. “I’m scared that Peter or Dad- but then I feel guilty that I’m not as worried about Clint or Bruce or Natasha or Thor.”

“You shouldn’t feel guilty.”

“I should feel scared?”

“We’re all scared.”

“Even Dad?”

“Especially Dad.”

“What about you?”

“I know they can do it, and I know we’re safe here.”

“But?”

“Of course I’m worried. Normally it’s about defeating the bad guy, now it’s about protecting you. My little girls at risk! How am I meant to feel?” Steve tried to keep his tone positive; seeing his daughter cry ranked on par with seeing Tony cry. Tony had never cried in Steve’s presence but he imagined that’s what it would feel like.

“But with Peter, I’ve never felt this way before about a boy.” She whispered.

“I suppose the circumstances are a little different to other boyfriends you may or may not have had that I may or may not have been aware of.”

“You were totally aware of them – I do know what kind of surveillance Dad has, Pops.”

“I’m not quite as invasive as he is.”

“I had to show you how to work the TV remote – you’re also not quite as technological as he is.”

“You’ll be taking me over at this rate.”

“That day has been and gone, Pops.” Lacey smirked.

“That’s better.” Steve smiled, wiping the tears from her cheeks with his thumb.

“Thanks Papa.”

“C’mon then, you seemed to be getting some good work out of this. JARVIS, can we have the music back on but quieter?” Steve requested.

“Of course sir.” The English voice responded; playing the track as Lacey began to punch again, Steve steadying the bag as she punched it repeatedly.

They spent a good half hour in the small gym.

“I swear I felt something, you almost got me.” Steve teased.

“Come off it.”

“I did, you almost made me step back, just a little bit.”

“You’re a rock and I’m not genetically enhanced with magic serum – shut up Pops.”

“It’s getting late; you should be going to bed.”

“Since when have I had a bedtime?”

“It was just a suggestion.”

“I was going anyway, it’s almost 2am.”

“Goodnight Lacey.

“Night Pops.”

The days that followed were much the same. The house was well equipped with high-quality foods and entertainment facilities but nothing could keep the wondering minds of the Soldier and the daughter from their companions, friends and family back at HQ.

The gym was the only decent source of amusement, but they were hardly even sparring partners. Steve tried to train her as best he could, but there was nothing 3 days and a boxing ring could do for an 18 year old girl with a heart condition to make her an equal partner.

After 2 hours on the first day she was shattered, she had to have 10 minutes leaning against a wall to try and get her heart back to a decent rate.

They stopped for lunch and Steve went back into the ring, trying not to break the equipment that wouldn’t be replaced before next week.

Lacey checked her phone, on the off chance Peter or Pepper had risked sending her a text, but both knew the consequences and neither had bothered the argument with Tony.

She turned on the TV, seeing if there was anything on the news about any more attacks but there was only recaps of the one yesterday. Her name was not mentioned (Pepper’s PR skills at work, once again) but they had footage of Peter stopping the helicopter and taking a girl back to Avenger HQ. None of the press really knew about her existence, and even if they did it would not be as Iron Man and Captain America’s daughter.

She went to bed even earlier that night, lying wide awake in the luxurious double bed her Dad had paid for. The footage of Peter saving her replaying in her mind.

Lacey slipped into unconscious in the early hours of morning, waking late the next day to the smell of bacon wafting throughout the house. Steve was treating himself to a bacon sandwich for breakfast. Lacey didn’t get up – there’d been no developments or news from the Avengers, so she saw no point in rushing to get out of her warm nest.

The day continued in a similar fashion to the previous afternoon – Steve was in the gym, working up a sweat and maintaining his fitness levels while he wasn’t in the extensive workout programme back at HQ, and Lacey sat in the living room with the news on, waiting for something, _anything_ to announce itself.

Days passed like weeks. Lacey had never been so idle and domestic – this ‘home’ environment was very different to what she associated with the word.

She felt more at home in one of her Dad’s workshops, one of Bruce’s labs or even the gym – but not what’s expected of a stereotypical ‘home’.

She ended up falling asleep on the sofa on the evening of the third day, woken only by Steve sitting on the other end.

“I think you might just be as bored as I am.” He joked.

“Why haven’t we heard _anything_? I thought maybe even Coulson might have popped round to keep us up to date.”

“If Coulson visits, our location is revealed. If nothing happens within a week they’ll call us back, I promise.” Steve tried to reassure her. Lacey looked unconvinced. “We’ll break out if they don’t come get us.”

“That sounds like a better plan.” Lacey agreed, settling down to sleep again as the news played a clip about a train explosion in Minnesota.

Steve turned the TV off when he knew Lacey was sound asleep. He carried her to her room and tucked her under the covers, telling JARVIS to dim the lights on the way out.

He went to his own room and switched on the shower, waiting till the walls were frosted with condensation before he climbed in, the hot water relaxing his muscles and helping him to think more clearly.

He’d been down to the bunker that morning – Tony had told him if he _ever_ wanted to talk to him, the connections down there were secure. Steve could see Tony was online but couldn’t bring himself to press video call – he was probably stressed as it was and he would assume that Steve and Lacey were in trouble and panic.

He wondered what the others were doing; Peter was almost certainly getting agitated, Clint and Natasha were probably putting in hours of extra training, Bruce would have locked himself in his room with his ‘Sounds of the Ocean’ CD on repeat and Thor was probably making sandwiches using whole loaves of bread.

Then he thought about Pepper – he was protecting her daughter, her only daughter; she must be worried out of her mind. Coulson had probably been elected to comfort her, but he was never quite comfortable with crying women, especially over something as sentimental as worrying for your child.

No one would really understand how she felt except Tony, Peter and Steve.

But Steve wasn’t there. He was here, protecting Lacey, fast asleep in her room.

He’d never felt so alone. 


	13. Chapter 13

Nothing was all that different between the safe house in Manhattan with Steve and Lacey and Avengers HQ with the others. Steve and Lacey suffered a long, silent boredom with next to nothing with which to entertain themselves but certainty of each other’s safety. The others were agitated, restless, nervous, stressed and not in any way maintaining any sense of ‘calm’, with no idea how Lacey and Steve were feeling.

Bruce missed his scientific companion and their decapitation of the robotic creature. Not only Lacey was gone but because Lacey was gone, Tony wasn’t in the lab anymore and had banned anyone from interrupting him in the workshop. Bruce tried to avoid the others and keep himself occupied by continuing working on Lacey’s aging serum. He didn’t realise how much Lacey was around until she was gone.

No one really knew how Thor was feeling. He was trying to cheer everyone up, reminding them that nothing had happened to anyone so far and they hadn’t heard anything from Steve and it was looking like they’d be coming back before anyone attempted to kidnap her again. He didn’t bother Bruce, because he didn’t like the science lab – it was too much like dark magic for his liking. He tried to make Tony feel better but only got shouted at for invading his ‘Tony time’. Clint, Natasha and Pepper were all reluctant to be cheered up, but played along for Thor’s sake. He only found them moping again a few hours later. He’d had lots of in-depth conversations with Peter about love and relationships, pondering specifically on his time with Jane. Thor always tried to avoid how he was feeling.

Natasha didn’t like losing another female ally. Pepper was great, but distraught; a lost mother. And Maria had no concept of compassion whatsoever. She enjoyed those sparring sessions in the ring, trying to beat the shit out of each other while talking about female assertion, male stupidity and vegetables. She’d tried to maintain everybody’s fitness levels and the cooking initiative that she and Pepper had begun but no one was very enthusiastic.

Except Clint, who was ready with a napkin on his lap as soon as Natasha called them that dinner was ready. It wound her up, that was the only thrill Clint had over the past few days. Lacey was like his true ally, always there, always stealing his bows, always ready to listen to him. He didn’t want to admit to Steve that he’d been drunk in front of Lacey, but she always made sure he got to bed safely with a glass of water and some painkillers ready and waiting for him the next morning. She was like the younger sister he’d never had. He didn’t want to admit how much younger. Or how much fun he’d had playing with her toys once she’d gone to bed when she was 6.

Pepper had been advised to take some stress-relieving tablets and to stop working for a few days. She’d never been away from Lacey for more than a day before and however much she _didn’t_ want to sound like a distraught mother, she was terrified for her only child’s welfare.

“Tony,” She tentatively entered the workshop, knowing full well Tony hadn’t slept for a couple of days and he’d be cranky at best.

“What?” He snapped.

“I, err, I’m not being… never mind.” She stumbled.

“No, no, Pepper, I’m sorry. What’s up?” Tony asked, tripping over whatever metallic junk he’d left on the floor in attempt not to stain her petite arms with oil.

“I’m not being irrational about Lacey am I?” She whispered, knowing only Tony would truly understand how she felt.

“No, no way. You’re handling the whole thing much better than I am.”

“People are talking Tony; they think I’m going mad.”

“Any mother, whose daughter has grown up with a bunch of super-humans who’s just been kidnapped and put into a safe house, has a _right_ to act much more erratically than you are Pepper. You’re fine, I swear.”

“What’re you even doing down here?”

“I’ve been watching the footage of them getting in. But I can’t find the bloody hole in the security.” Tony growled, running his hands through his unruly hair.

“I’ll leave you to get on with that.” Pepper muttered, leaving the workshop before Tony started breaking things.

“Sir, your original plans for the Iron Man are on fire.” JARVIS told Tony. He grabbed the fire extinguisher and put out the flame before it grew to something bigger and Thor finally decided to drag him out by his ears.

“I’ve got at least 14 copies of them in 13 locations and one framed in the control room – those ones provide no purpose.” Tony sighed. “I think I need a drink.”

“Sir, you told me not to let you drink anything until Miss Potts and Mr Rogers were back.”

“I don’t care.” Tony shrugged.

“Sir, I really don’t-”

“ _JARVIS_!” Tony shouted. “My daughter was kidnapped, my boyfriend is keeping watch of her in a safe house and I’ve not spoken to them for who knows how many days.” Tony was fuming.

“4, sir.”

Tony’s knees buckled and he collapsed in a heap on the floor. “I miss them, JARVIS, I’m grieving and they’re not even _gone_.”

“Would you like me to get Agent Barton or Ms Potts, Sir?”

“No, just get me a bloody vodka.”

“Sir, your history of drowning away your sorrows in alcoholic beverages is-”

“Bad and frequent, I know, but right now it’s the only comfort I’ve got.” Tony tried not to sob – he even felt humiliation in front of his robotic creation now.

Tony stumbled over to the wine cabinet, pulling out a bottle of vodka and 3 beers and walking back to the sofa.

He wasn’t dealing with Lacey’s absence well, even worse since Steve wasn’t there to help him. He was a devoted, _attached_ father and nothing could change that – his little girl was in danger, his little baby girl that had been kept from harm’s way for all the 18 years she’d brightened their lives. It had all changed because they hadn’t kept a close eye on her for 10 minutes.

Tony wasn’t just looking for the hole; he was improving all his defences. Everything was getting an upgrade.

And ‘everything’ getting an upgrade meant a hell of a lot of code to rewrite. And sometimes, ‘everything’ was a bit too much for Tony.

He fell asleep that night with 4 empty bottles consumed and covering him, dribbling on one of the exquisite sofa pillows Pepper had insisted he bought.

.

Peter was angry. He wanted to have Lacey back, he wanted to protect her himself, he wanted to hold her and feel that Lacey taste on his lips again. He loved her, _really_ loved her, and he hadn’t told her and couldn’t tell her. He was pacing on the roof, right over the helicarrier landing pad much to Fury’s display.

He had to talk to Tony – he would understand what he was feeling and help him do something about it. Tony _must_ want Lacey and Steve back in their protection as much as he did, if she was here they could guard her personally and that was safer than any steel wall and bunker, right?

Peter left the roof, giving Fury’s security cameras a friendly and overly patronising wave as he jogged down to the workshop.

“Tony, we need to get them back here, I think- holy mother of god.” Peter gasped when he walked in the workshop. Tony was still asleep on the sofa. “JARVIS, I thought we _strictly_ agreed no booze?!”

“I’m sorry Mr Parker – he was sobbing.”

Peter rolled his eyes, unsure whether Tony was capable of fabricating such emotion just to get some alcohol in his system or whether he meant it.

“Tony, wake up, wake up Tony.” Peter gently shook Tony.

“P-Peeeeeeterrrrrr?” Tony slurred. “How much, how much did I,”

“How much did you drink? Too much. You weren’t meant to be drinking Tony!” Peter shouted.

“I miss them, alright? I want my Steve back, I want my daughter back, I want,” Tony began to cry again, holding his head and reaching out for water he didn’t have nearby.

“ _Then why don’t you bring them back?_ ” Peter shouted, every suppressed thought and feeling he’d had since Lacey had left surfacing and exploding in Tony’s hung-over face.

“Because they got through my security once,”

“And now we’re all on high alert. Give her one of your friggen Iron Man suits then she can shoot the bastards.” Peter screamed.

“Stop shouting at me, Parker,”

“You’ve moved her from probably the safest tower in the city to some house in Manhattan. There’s only so much one man can do, if they send an invasion anything like the one we fought off that night Steve won’t be able to do it.”

“You know nothing about how this house works; it’s safer than this tower by miles.”

“I don’t need to know anything to know that 7 Avengers are stronger than 1.”

“We can’t stop _everything_ just because Lacey’s in danger, Pete,” Tony lied.

“You can’t say that! You’re her father. Her biological father and you’re saying her safety isn’t worth the world?”

“Of course it is; it just isn’t worth _sacrificing_ the world.”

“I’d sacrifice anything for her; _everything_ for her! You should think the same, Tony.”

“We’ve got to remain level headed here Pete – it’s easy to make everything about saving her, I _want_ to make everything about saving her, Peter, I really do – but we can’t allow ourselves to fall into that trap. By over-protecting we miss things and become vulnerable.”

“That’s why you’re updating all the code.”

“It needed updating anyway.”

“It’s not relevant! I know about the bunker, you should be talking to Steve.”

“I don’t want to reveal their location.”

“It’s a secure line!”

“How much do you know Peter?”

“More than you’d think.”

“How?”

“Lacey told me you knew I was clever. Remember how excited you got about my shooters?”

“I’ve already proved I can make better ones, I did by that afternoon.” Tony scoffed.

“You have a workshop! I was working in someone else’s lab.” Peter defended.

“That’s irrelevant – I made my first helper bot in my bedroom when I was 12.”

“Tony, she’s your daughter. Let me go down there, or I’ll go anyway.”

“I’ll lock you in your room.”

“Don’t threaten me.”

“I’ll threaten whoever I want, this is my bloody building.”

“I used to think you were a good father Tony. You didn’t like me and I accepted that, but you loved her, now I’m not quite so sure.” Peter sighed, leaving the workshop and slamming the door behind him.

“Peter! Have you had breakfast yet this morning? Clint and I were cooking cakes in a pan and they were delicious.” Thor enthused, having heard the majority of the argument.

“Oh, uh, okay, Thor. I’ll have some pancakes.” Peter agreed, not wanting to hurt Thor’s feelings, knowing trying to cheer everyone else up was his way of keeping his mind of Lacey’s disappearance.

Thor sat Peter down at the kitchen table and put a huge plate of pancakes in front of him. Peter really wasn’t hungry but slowly began eating the maple syrup covered pancakes.

“Now, I don’t know whether your Uncle ever had this conversation with you Peter, or whether Tony or Steve have ever mentioned it but it is always important to reinforce the safe parameters when engaging in sexual intercourse and other events with a lady, in this scenario, Miss Lacey.” Thor began.

“Thor, it’s fine I’ve-”

“No, Peter, there’s no need to be bashful. When I first engaged in sexual activities with Jane, it was joyous, it was a beautiful occasion – it wasn’t just sexual intercourse, it was love. You’re a young sensible man, and I know they have balloon-like instruments to stop fertility, back on Asgard we simply send our men and women to the local witch doctor, but there is a responsibility that follows loving a woman.”

“Mm hmm.” Peter agreed.

“Now I know Natasha has trained Lacey in the art of gymnastic and both are very flexible, you can use this to your advantage.” Thor continued, moving from precaution to advice. This was when Clint stopped stifling giggles and began paying attention. “But I’m sure you can imagine that for yourself.” Thor chuckled. Peter didn’t want Thor to be imaging anything to do with himself, Lacey and sex.

“Uh huh.” Peter filled the silence.

“Peter, what have you and Lacey been up to in the bedroom?” Clint asked, encouraging Thor.

“Nothing, nothing, we haven’t done anything yet. Nothing at all.” Peter blushed, glaring at Clint with every ounce of evil he could summon.

“But you have! Remember I caught you the morning after.” Clint cheerfully reminded.

“Oh yes, I’d forgotten about that.” Peter muttered through gritted teeth.

“How was that?” Thor asked, seemingly _genuinely_ intrigued.

“It was, uh, fine, it was fine.” Peter mumbled.

“Did you-”

“No, probably not.” Peter silenced the God of Thunder, hoping he didn’t upset him, because he was still a little bit scared of Thor. “Actually Thor, I’m meant to be training with Clint.”

“Just one minute more Peter,” Thor pulled him back into his seat. “Miss Lacey is a wonderful girl and I’ve given you all this advice to help you. But if you hurt her or upset her in any way, you’ve got a lot to answer for.”

“I’ve had the same talk from Tony, and Steve, and Clint, and everybody, actually.” Peter muttered, stumbling over his words.

“So you understand?”

“I really like her, Thor, I think I, uh, _love_ her, but I’ve not told her yet and I won’t hurt her, I promise.”

“Good. Love is good. You better go train. Bye Peter.”

“Bye Thor.” Thor finally allowed Peter to leave the kitchen, the pancakes and the safe sex talk and go train with Clint, who followed. Peter was merely wide eyed and slightly traumatised by what Thor just hadn’t stopped talking about.

Clint was wetting himself as soon as they were far enough away that the God of Thunder couldn’t hear them.

“Why the hell didn’t you stop him?” Peter growled in the whiniest of voices, slapping Clint’s arm repeatedly, battering him a little bit. But he deserved it.

“Because,” Clint didn’t finish, he was too busy laughing. He had to stop walking and curl up on the floor because he found it so hilarious. Peter couldn’t help the smile creeping to the corners of his lips.

“It wasn’t!” He protested. “You wouldn’t be laughing if I broke down in distraught tears of pain and horror from hearing about Thor’s ‘Adventures’ with Jane.”

Clint only laughed harder.

Peter smiled apologetically at any employee that happened to walk past while Clint didn’t even try to stop laughing, he was too busy giggling.

“What’s going on?” Natasha asked, wondering what all the commotion was about. Clint sat up to try and explain but only started laughing at the blush on Peter’s cheeks. Natasha asked Peter. “What’s he laughing at?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing really.”

“Oh, Nat it’s hilarious.” Clint was crying.

“Peter, what happened?” Natasha tried to control the smile, wanting a part in the young man’s humiliation.

Peter sighed. “Thor gave me a safe sex talk.” Natasha really did try not to laugh.

“I told you it was hilarious!” Clint muttered. Peter sighed again and decided it’d be better to just leave. Tony was probably still mad in the workshop, Thor would still be eating pancakes, Clint and Natasha would be laughing for who knows how long and Bruce was the only one Peter hadn’t seen today. But Peter didn’t fancy going anywhere near the workshop again for fear of blowing off again.

He went to his room, preparing to don the Spider-Man suit and swing on over to Manhattan. Or maybe just get a bus, that’d be more subtle.

“Mr Parker sir, Director Fury is holding a meeting in the control room and requires your presence.” JARVIS informed.

“Right, sure, whatever.” Peter sighed, leaving his suit on the bed and leaving the room.

“Are you alright, Sir?” JARVIS’ voice followed.

“I’m fine, JARVIS.”

“If you insist.”

“Oh, I insist.” Peter muttered. He didn’t mean to snap at the inanimate voice system but he’d pretended to be in a good mood for at least half an hour now – he was grumpy again.

“Peter, what did you do?” Fury barked. “I found these two giggling in the hall and all they could muster was your name and something about safe sex?”

“Nothing to do with me.” Peter lied, leaning against the wall, balancing one foot in a similar fashion.

Clint and Natasha just burst out laughing again; Fury silenced them with a glare. Bruce smiled and everyone stopped as Thor entered the room – not wanting him to know they found his attempts on helping Peter with Lacey hilarious. Tony was the last to arrive, wearing the same shirt and pants as he had 3 days ago, bags under his eyes and the vague scent of alcohol still lingering.

“Wassup?” He asked.

“You’ve all been moping ever since the Captain and Lacey left, you need to pull yourselves together and keep working.” Fury wasn’t pleased.

“At what?” Peter asked, in a sarcastic and patronising mood.

“Your training – whatever it is _productive_ that you do when you’re not working. Lacey and Steve are still working, why shouldn’t you?”

“How do you know that?” Tony asked, he’d disable any CCTV connections in case whoever wanted Lacey was watching the tower too.

“That’s none of your business Stark.”

“Of course it’s my business, I-” Tony was interrupted by his phone ringing. He linked it with the control monitor so everyone could hear; it was Steve.

“Tony, Tony, oh my gosh I can’t believe I reached you.”

“Whoa, Steve, calm down, what’s up?”

“She’s gone Steve. They found us. They’ve got her, Tony they’ve got her. Lacey’s gone.”


	14. Chapter 14

They probably shouldn’t have crowded Steve so much when he got back but they were worried and he understood that.

“What happened?” Tony asked gently, trying not to upset him.

“I was in the gym. She was watching the news in the living room in case anything happened with you guys. I heard a window smash, I get downstairs and she’s trying to fight off 3 men dressed in black with masks. I grab her and try to get her to the bunker but they get inside too.

“She’s fighting one; I’m holding off the other two. They get me over the head with the barrel of a gun and inject some sort of sedative. They drag her away, kicking and screaming. She was screaming for me, calling my name. I tried to crawl for the door but everything was fading. I woke up this morning, half in the bunker. And she’s still gone.” Steve explained in more detail than anyone expected. “I don’t know who it was or why they wanted her but I’m so sorry I didn’t look after her better.” Steve’s voice began to crack.

“It’s _not_ your fault Steve.” Tony rubbed Steve’s back with one hand, trying to calm him down.

“If they brought sedatives and a needle strong enough to break _your_ skin, Steve, they knew what they were fighting.” Natasha added.

“She relied on me. I’ve never felt so powerless and weak before.” Steve voiced how he felt. “I just had to watch be taken away.”

“Is there anything we can do to try and find her?” Peter asked. He wasn’t angry anymore, none of them were. But Tony and Peter still weren’t talking. Tony and Steve shared a glance.

“There’s one thing, we never told her or anyone, but I installed a microchip in her arm when she was little.” Tony admitted.

“Why?” Peter asked, not horrified but intrigued.

“Growing up here, we knew something like this could happen. She’s a weak spot in all of us; it was likely this would happen. Now we can find her.” Steve explained.

“Could they have taken it out?” Peter continued prying.

“No – she was 3; her muscles have grown around it and hidden it. The only way they could get to it would lose the use of her hand or they’d just cut forearm off.” Tony explained.

“Villains don’t tend to be too fussed about removing limbs.” Clint contributed. Tony ran to the workshop, closely followed by the 6 other Avengers.

“Damn it,” Tony shouted, pounding at the keyboard.

“What?” Steve asked.

“They’ve deactivated it or destroyed it or something.”

“But what about her arm?” Steve gasped.

“I don’t know. There’s no way of knowing I just know there’s no _damn_ signal. Okay, we need to formulate a plan.” Tony declared.

“We do not know what we are fighting.” Thor contradicted.

“Do I look like a Daddy who cares?” Tony shouted.

“You clearly are.” A voice from his computer smirked.

“And who are you?”

“I am Volt. And I have your daughter.” Volt looked like she might just start cackling, panning the camera round to show Lacey tied up in the corner, struggling despite obvious pain. Her right arm was a bloody mess, her hand limp, her hands tied in front of her so she couldn’t hide the wound. “We’ve kept her, how should I put this, _well entertained._ We taught her a few lessons about manners.”

“Her manners are impeccable!” Steve argued.

“Not now Steve.” Tony shushed him. “So what do you want? This is normally when a ransom is declared.”

“Spider-Man.” Volt stated. Peter remained off camera, slapping his hand over his mouth to stifle his response.

“Why?” Clint asked. “I’d rather have a Hawkeye.” He smiled. Natasha rolled her eyes.

“We have a serum of sorts, it makes the recipient forget, they’re susceptible and I can plant whatever I like into their subconscious. I can change Spider-Man’s intentions, I can recruit men, thousands of them, and I can make Lacey Potts forget her fathers, hate them even…” Volt mused, playing with Lacey’s hair. Lacey tried to fight back, trying to swing her legs round to trip Volt up, but only succeeding in having an electric shock stabbed in the gaping wound on her arm from the tip of Volt’s finger, Lacey screamed as she fell into unconsciousness.

Volt only smirked. “Spider-Man. You have 48 hours.” The link clicked off. Tony began frantically typing, trying to hold on to the video link, trying to locate it.

“Why me?” Peter asked.

“You’re the newest; she probably thought it was easiest to break you away.” Tony answered.

“She might have thought we’d be more willing to exchange you for her.” Steve added.

“I can get out alive, she can’t. Just do the swap, I’ll be fine.” Peter suggested.

“No. That’s not how this works.” Clint patted Peter on the shoulder. A dart shot from the wall and hit Peter’s neck. He pulled it out and looked at Tony with a confused expression.

“What, what’re you doing?” Peter’s eyelids were fluttering shut but he fought to stay awake, trying not to wobble and fall over. Clint held him up.

Tony just glared at him, not wanting to fight with him but clearly not wanting him conscious either.

“I’m trying to help! What’re you, what’re you doing, to me?” Peter fell unconscious, heavy in Clint’s arms. The Archer just lowered him to the floor and stepped away awkwardly.

“What the hell was that, Tony?” Steve gasped.

“Put him in his room, JARVIS put his room in lock down, make sure he can’t get out, not through the door, the windows, air vents; nothing.” Tony instructed. “He’s going to want to give himself up – we can’t let him, we need a strategy and a plan. Then we’ll attack.” Tony muttered, still trying to locate Volt.

No one moved.

“Sometime soon please or he’ll wake up.” Tony demanded. Steve moved to take the unconscious man into his arms, carrying him to his room obediently.

“This is wrong Tony. You didn’t need to dart him.” Bruce tried to reprimand him.

“He wouldn’t have gone voluntarily.” Tony mumbled, not fussed about how they kept Peter here but determined to do it. “Yes. They’re in a building across town, can’t tell which floor but we know where they are.” He’d traced the call.

“And what are we going to do when we get there?” Natasha asked.

“When we get there, it’s more than likely they’ll have someone to greet us at the door, so you and Clint stay and keep them entertained. Thor, Steve and I stay at round 2. Bruce and Peter go straight through and rescue Lacey, taking her back to their helicarrier than can bring her back here. We get through to Volt, I’m going to kick her sorry butt to next Tuesday then kill her for hurting my baby girl. Does that summarise it well enough?” Tony was very angry, so angry he simply didn’t care what anyone thought about it or his decisions, as long as they did as he said. “Bruce, can you help me get building plans and find out more on this Volt? Electricity is clearly her strength so it shouldn’t be too hard to find a weakness.” Tony delegated. Bruce switched on the other computer in the lab.

A file opened itself on Tony’s screen – it was a video of them removing the microchip from Lacey’s arm – they hadn’t even anaesthetised her.  She was screaming and crying and it got louder every time Tony tried to close it. A message popped up at the end.

“A video of Lacey will pop up every hour you don’t sacrifice Spider-Man.” Tony read. “If we’re not ready in 4 hours we send Peter to hold them off.” Tony declared.

Thor, Clint and Natasha thought it best to leave Bruce and Tony to their work. They told Steve of the plan and the torture video. He looked torn; did he go comfort Tony or did he leave them to work so they could get Lacey back sooner?

He decided against the former, whatever that video contained was best forgotten. They all went to put on their suits on and warm up, gathering back in the living room when they found nothing else to do.

“Mr Rogers, sir, Mr Parker is fighting against Mr Stark’s orders; he’s tried to break out of the door, the window and the air ventilation system.” JARVIS stated.

“I’ll go talk to him.” Steve stood and headed upstairs.

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Captain?” Thor asked.

“Thor’s right Steve – Peter will try and guilt you into letting him go. He’s never done anything like this; he’s blindly following his slightly obsessive heart.” Clint agreed.

“I know. I won’t.” Steve promised, going to Peter’s room. “JARVIS, unlock the door, but lock it again once I’m inside.” Steve instructed.

“You want to stay there with him?”

“Yes.” The door clicked open and Steve entered, catching Peter. He’d hurtled himself towards the door but Steve’s sheer strength was no match for him – he wasn’t going to get out.

“What’re you doing? We need to get her before they kill her.” Peter shouted.

“Peter calm down.”

“I thought you’d be on my side, Steve. They’re torturing your little girl.”

“And that’s bad. Tony and Bruce are working on researching Volt and understanding the schematics of the building. They’re expecting us to freak out and panic, but we have to make sure we understand what we’re doing, have a solid plan before we go, then we suffer no fatalities.” Steve explained.

“How can you bear the thought of her being tortured? I saw the video on my laptop – they performed surgery on her without anaesthetising her, Steve!”

“I know, but it’ll get worse if we attempt and fail to save her. Tony has a plan, a good plan, and as long as we stick to that plan, she’ll get out alive, we’ll get out alive and Volt won’t.”

.

Lacey was brought round to consciousness an hour after she was electrified. She was taken and forced to limp to sit at a desk with an interrogation light. Volt sat opposite her.

“Daddy’s not here yet then?” Volt teased.

“Told you that video wouldn’t work.” Lacey was tired, she’d been kept up all night by Volt and her friends; she barely had the energy to talk. She’d bled, bruised and cried throughout the night, she’d never experienced anything like it. She ached, she was covered in blood and dust and she had never felt so disgusting. The things they’d made her watch, the things she’d seen; the things they’d _done_ to her – Lacey wasn’t quite as strong minded or confident as she was when she’d been brought in. She couldn’t stop herself shaking and any moments of rest she was granted she was whimpering, not even having the energy to cry.

“We promised to send another one and I don’t break promises.” Volt smirked. Lacey grimaced as she was forced to stand, taken to a medical bed and locked in.

Two thugs (as Lacey had taken to affectionately calling them) and Volt encircled her, another thug was filming. They all had knives.

“This time, it’s live.” Volt cackled. She started by slashing at Lacey’s leg. She tried to contain her scream but couldn’t help it when she saw the red-black blood oozing from her thigh. They slashed her calves, her arms and her stomach. They didn’t cut quickly, they pulled the blade through her skin agonisingly slowly, in long strokes.

“Please stop,” Lacey whispered.

“Why should we?”

“Anymore and you’ll kill me. I’m no use to you dead – they’re not going to exchange Spider-Man for some dead girl.”

“’Some dead girl’; you’re still their daughter.”

“And you think they want to see their daughter like this?” Lacey grimaced.

“Stop.” Volt instructed. “Take her back to her cell.”

The thugs dragged her and the other one continued filming.

“You know, I’ve got this heart condition that means I can’t produce blood as quickly either. So you should bear that in mind too.” Lacey added as they dropped her on the floor, leaving her to bleed.

Peter and Steve were watching the second video in his room.

“Only Tony would say anything like that when being tortured.” Steve concluded.

“She’s being tortured, possibly to death, and she’s still cleverer than us.” Peter smiled a little. “If they’re cautious of keeping her alive, they’re not going to be as harsh.” He explained.

“She’s brilliant.”

“Only 2 more of those before Tony lets me go.” Peter was counting down. “Do you think they’ve given her their serum yet?”

“No. She’s still fighting. If she’d been made to hate us she’d beg them to kill her.” Steve had thought of all these things already.

“You don’t have to stay, you know. I’ll stop fighting now.”

“It’s alright; if I’m out there they’ll treat me like glass, keep telling me ‘everything will be okay’.”

“It will, Steve.”

“I know, but it’ll take a long time for her to be alright again.”

“We’ll all be here for her. How’s Pepper holding up?”

“I don’t know. I hope she hasn’t seen those videos, I don’t know what she’d do. Probably blame Tony.”

“Probably.” Peter agreed. “Can we get out of here? If I stay in this room much longer the walls will start closing in on me.”

“Sure.” Steve agreed. “Where do you want to go?”

“Kitchen – if we’re going in for a huge fight I need some food.”

“Good call.”

“I think there’s still some pancakes from Thor’s breakfast.”

“Let’s utilise the microwave.”

They went and cooked themselves some pancakes, smothering them in maple syrup and devouring them.

“It’s gotta be nearing an hour since the last video, isn’t it?” Peter asked.

“Let’s go back to the workshop.”

“I’m meant to be locked in my room.”

“You’re with me, I let you out. It’ll be fine.” Steve shrugged.

Everyone was in the workshop, ready and waiting for them.

“Well you two took your time.” Tony chirped, significantly cheered up with a round of hacking and discovering lots about their opponent, putting it on his database (he’d been desperately bored that night).

“Sorry, didn’t know we were wanted. Nice pancakes, Thor.” Steve smiled and the God of Thunder formed an expression that could only be described as ‘chuffed’.

“Okay, so Volt is like a Goddess of Lightning and Electricity and stuff,”

“But, not actually a Goddess?” Thor questioned.

“No, but she thinks so. We saw that she can create lightning sparks with her fingers but I’ve discovered that she can also make your hair go frizzy with static electricity.” Tony joked. “Basically she’ll zap you then you can get on and kick her static butt.”

“Any weaknesses? At all?” Natasha asked.

“Water and electricity don’t mix. Don’t get into hand to hand combat with her or she’ll zap you every time you hit her.”

“So nothing?”

“Pretty much.”

“This is encouraging.” Natasha sighed.

“She has an army too.” Bruce added.

“This just gets better and better.” Clint mused.

“They’re not as charged as Volt, as long as you don’t let them get their Tasers out, they’re just soldiers.” Bruce explained.

“Do we have a plan?” Thor asked.

“Yes – it’s likely we’ll be greeted on the roof with soldiers – Thor, Natasha, you’ll stay with them. Steve and Clint, you stay with the next lot; there’s going to be hundreds of them, we can’t afford to spare them, if you can kill them quickly; do it.” Tony explained

“What about you, me and Bruce?” Peter asked.

“You and Bruce are going to get Lacey back to the helicarrier. Then join the fight.”

“And you?” Steve asked Tony.

“I’m going straight to Volt.”

“Tony, she’ll fry your systems; it’ll kill you.” Peter observed.

“I know, but if I can kill her first, the troops should drop back with their leader dead.”

“That’s a very shaky plan, Tony.”

“I know, Clint. But one electric opponent is enough. All those soldiers are more dangerous to me than Volt.”

“Sir, there’s an incoming message on your computer.” JARVIS interrupted.

“Another video; wonderful.” Tony sighed. It began playing and they all crowded round the computer.

Volt had Lacey in front of what looked like some sort of bath, smirking as she always did.

“Who is Spider-Man?” Volt screamed.

“I’m still not telling you.” Lacey muttered. Volt pushed her head into the water, holding it there. Peter stepped out of shot but remained close enough that he could see the screen.

Volt allowed Lacey out, flicking her hair out of her eyes and breathing heavily. “You sure you don’t want to tell me anything? He’s the only Avenger with a secret identity, but not to you. You have a soft spot for Spider-Man.”

“You can continue asking and I still won’t tell you.” Lacey argued.

“There’s only so much water you can take.”

“You won’t kill me yet.” Lacey sneered, all-but encouraging Volt to try and drown her again.

“You have 24 hours Stark.” Volt growled, clicking the camera off before she pulled Lacey back up.

“We’re leaving. Now.” Tony growled.

“Whoa, 10 minutes, calm down Tony.” Steve grabbed his shoulders. “If you go in angry you’re only going to get yourself killed.”

“If I don’t go in angry I’ll go in sobbing.” Tony whispered, not wanting to cry in front of the others. They all took the hint and left anyway.

“Tony, it’s okay to feel.”

“I know, but they’re hurting her Steve. Who knows what else they’ve done to her?”

“I know. But she’s alive; we have to focus on that. She’s alive; with medical attention she will be okay.” Tony didn’t say anything. “Tony, she’s still answering them back. She’s not telling them anything, she’s not been given that serum – she’s fine.”

“If not bleeding to death.”

“Let’s go stop the bleeding then.” Steve smiled at Tony, trying to motivate him a little without pissing him off.

“Okay.” Tony agreed.  “Let’s go get our Princess back.” 


	15. Chapter 15

They jumped out of the helicarrier to the roof. There was no one there; it was empty.

“So, when do they attack us?” Natasha asked.

“C’mon.” Tony led them inside the building. He cautiously kicked the door open – hundreds of soldiers were ready and waiting. “Change of plan,” Tony said, not moving. “Everyone stay and fight the first lot.” Tony shouted as he flew over the soldiers. Peter aimed for one of the high beams and followed Tony. Hulk pushed through all the soldiers, ignoring the electric shocks they tried to stun him with.

They fought their way through hundreds of awaiting soldiers before they got to the maze of empty corridors and stairways. Tony stopped to shoot some of the men at the back, trying to help the others in whatever vague way he could.

“How do we know where she is?” Peter asked. The Hulk ran off down one corridor, Peter ran after him, assuming Bruce had found something before they left.

“Sir, I’ve been able to analyse the schematics of the building while you were inside – Volt is residing in a large office 5 floors down.” JARVIS told Tony and he was gone.

Peter had no idea what Hulk was doing but wasn’t going to question it; they were getting closer to some of the environments they’d seen in the videos. Hulk stopped at a fork in the corridors.

“Where now?” Peter asked. The Hulk leaned towards one, trying to see into the darkness. Peter neared towards the other, better lit. There was a trail of blood leading out of one room and further down the corridor. Peter bolted and Hulk followed. Peter hated to follow the blood but it _had_ to be her, how many people could they be torturing?

He slowed to a walk when the floor degraded into metal and his steps echoed uncomfortably. He looked into some of the windows of the doors he passed – there were people in there, 3 or 4 people in each room. Some were exhausted, lying on the floor, Peter wasn’t sure if they were alive, while others were healthy enough and fighting with each other – the circumstances driving them to insanity. Peter stopped, glancing at the Hulk.

“We have to let them out.” They started at different ends of the corridor on different sides, breaking all the locks. As people began to flood the corridor in confusion Peter climbed up on Hulk shoulders, calling them all to attention. “Hey! There’s an aircraft on the roof. Get out while you can, fight if you have to. Take your injured; we can get them help.” Peter called and they all began to scatter.

Peter turned around and burst into the biggest room that had to be Lacey’s cell. At first he didn’t see her; she was huddled in a shadowed corner; tied up and shattered, muttering to herself. Peter ran over and knelt in front of her.

“Lacey, Lace are you alright?” He asked gently.

“Who, wha?” She mumbled, not focusing on Peter’s face. He took off the mask. “Peter? Pete, I thought you were dead.” She cupped his cheek. “They hurt you, I thought they killed you.”

“Hurt me? Lace, they’ve not touched me. I’m here to take you away.” Peter told her, his voice soft. He started to untie the ropes around her wrists, cautious of the mess of her right arm. “What did they do to you Lacey?” Peter asked, throwing the rope away and undoing her feet.

“Pain, so much pain and, I can’t,”

“You can’t what, Lace?”

“Remember. It all blurs together.”

“Just rest Lace, you’ll be home soon.” Peter focused more on the knots around her ankle, they were tighter.

“No, Peter that hurts.” Lacey cried. Peter let go, not knowing what he’d done. “Peter, stop!” Lacey sobbed.

“I’m not doing anything.” He looked back at the Hulk but he just shrugged.

“Peter, please,” Lacey cried.

“They’ve not just hurt you physically have they?” Peter mused. “They’re done something mentally.” He went back in to untie her feet; he had to undo them and whatever ‘pain’ she was feeling had little to do with what he was doing. He undid the knots and Lacey grabbed his hands, just holding them.

“Thank you,” She whispered.

“I’ll punish them for whatever they did to you, I promise.” He kissed her forehead.

“No, Peter don’t they’ll kill you. They want to make you be on their side, don’t do it, please!” Lacey begged. The Hulk scooped her up into his arms.

“I’m going to find Volt, help Tony. Take her back to the helicarrier, make sure they anaesthetise her – the flying will hurt.” Peter didn’t want to ignore Lacey but they more he looked at her, the angrier he got. The Hulk nodded and Peter ran off.

“Peter, don’t please!” Lacey called. The Hulk carried her in the opposite direction, running through all the soldiers. He didn’t mean to trip over the dead one on the floor, conveniently squashing 3 more. He dropped Lacey and she screamed. 5 more soldiers attacked Hulk and he had to fight them off before he could get Lacey to safety.

“Lacey!” She heard her name and Natasha was by her side in an instant, putting her handgun safely into the grip of Lacey’s left hand.

“Peter’s gone to fight Volt, stop him, please Nat, stop him.” Lacey whispered. Natasha nodded.

“Defend yourself.” She instructed, running off to fight again. Lacey shot at anyone that got within 3 feet of her, after that her vision was hazy and unclear. She couldn’t move, she could barely remain sitting up, but she managed to shoot at least 15 soldiers that tried to attack with varying degrees of accuracy, but all were dead. She pointed the gun straight at Hulk but he lowered it, pulling her up again and running through the soldiers. Lacey tried to continue shooting but she was tired, the rescue had tired her out. Her shots got lazier and she eventually dropped the gun, finding Hulk’s arms more comfortable.

She saw the helicarrier in the distance before she fell into what she called sleep. The Doctor’s called unconsciousness.

.

Director Fury had made sure to hire a lot of medically trained Doctor’s as his employees for missions like this. Bruce was the only qualified Doctor among the Avengers and he could fix up scratches and a few broken bones but events of this scale were beyond him.

Especially with the other hostages Peter had released, the medical department was overwhelmed with injuries and people – there was barely anyone left to take names and find accommodation for the 52 extra people they’d saved.

Some of them had homes to go back to, some were kids with mutations on their way to Xavier’s school that had been kidnapped on the way, so they’d go back there and others had nowhere to go. Fury told them they could stay in the Tower until they found somewhere to go and told someone to make one of the spare labs downstairs into a suitable living space, if only temporary.

But the focus was Lacey; stitching her together, bandaging her up, scanning her for any residue that Volt may have injected that they were unaware of.

Pepper didn’t want to be in the operating theatre, especially when they started working on her arm, trying to rescue the use of her hand but with no certainty of success. She waited in Tony’s workshop, 2 floors away from all the noise and busyness of all the new arrivals.

She felt hollow, empty, her eyes so dry from crying that all she could do was hiccup occasionally. Lacey was home, she knew that, but she didn’t feel like she was safe yet. JARVIS had reassured her that the new code that Tony was in the middle of installing was safer than ever before.

She’d needed to be somewhere familiar, preferably with familiar people, but all of the familiar people she’d usually choose from where still fighting with Volt across town.

She lay down on the sofa, cuddling one of the cushions to her chest, trying not to fall asleep. She’d been restless at night, haunted by nightmares of what could happen to her daughter; Pepper had barely slept at all in the nights that Lacey and Steve were gone. She always worried about the Avengers, _always_. They were her friends; she cared about their safety almost more than anything else. If anything ever happened to Tony or Steve, she didn’t know what would happen to her and Lacey. She didn’t like to think about it.

“JARVIS, have you heard anything from Tony?”

“Not recently, Ms Potts. I’ve heard nothing fatal, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Okay.” Pepper mused, letting herself fall asleep.

.

While Lacey was under anaesthetic she didn’t dream, she didn’t imagine or pretend; she remembered.

Everything she’d been through resurfaced, replaying, again and again. The pain, the torture, the agonising wait and silent plea for her father’s to show up and rescue her. She remembered all the terrible things she’d thought, the amount of times she’d cursed the damn Avengers for not acting quicker and for making her go through that. But then remembering they were doing the right thing in not rushing.

She didn’t need Volt’s serum to hate her fathers while she was locked up, she hated everyone and anyone she saw or thought about with no exception. She hated Peter for being Spider-Man. She hated Tony and Steve for being Iron Man and Captain America. She hated the Avengers. She hated living in the tower. She hated Volt for making her feel this way about people she loved and cared about really.

She stopped remembering when she was conscious, but not strong enough to move or talk or even open her eyes. She could hear but it was muffled and she probably wouldn’t like what they were saying.

She couldn’t feel much in contact with her skin bar the bandages, and someone’s hand holding her own. It wasn’t her Dad’s, the skin was too soft and the hand was too small for it to be Papa, the fingers too short for it to be Peter – it had to be Pepper. She couldn’t hear any crying, so whatever they’d done to her meant she was certainly going to live and her Mom didn’t have to mourn a dying child.

But if it was Pepper did that mean the others hadn’t got back yet or they weren’t well enough to come see her? She was almost certain any injuries they’d attained from fighting Volt’s army weren’t a patch on the injuries she had attained.

Lacey’s head began to ache with all the thinking, all the piecing together and remembering, so she let herself slip into sleep once more.

.

Pepper didn’t know how long she’d been sleeping for but it was the most peaceful she’d had in weeks – no dreams, no nightmares, just rest. But she was being shaken by one of the new female employees, her name was Phoebe; she’d been sent to shadow Pepper. She didn’t expect all this commotion in her first week.

“Ms Potts? Your daughter’s been let out of the operating theatre.” Phoebe’s tentative voice whispered.

“Oh, okay.” Pepper blinked herself awake. “How did you know I was in here?”

“I didn’t – I looked everywhere for you, your office, the other offices, the staff lounge then I came up here, went to your room and checked every floor on the way down.” Phoebe explained. “Nice TV in the living room.”

“It’s Tony’s.”

“Of course.”

“How long was Lacey in surgery for?” Pepper stood, addressing each issue as it popped into her head.

“I’m not sure, Miss.”

“How long have I been down here?”

“A few hours. Director Fury was telling everyone to leave you be, he said you didn’t need any pressure today.” Phoebe relayed everything she’d heard. “And there have been lots of press inquisitions into why the Avengers were attacking New York and there’s speculation that they’ve gone rogue but I sent an email to all the papers inviting them to a conference in 2 weeks where they’ll get all their answers and we’ve had time to formulate what we’re going to tell them.” Phoebe smiled. Pepper returned it, but it was minimal and forced.

“Well done, Phoebe, that’s a good idea. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go get the verdict on my daughter’s health.”

“Would you like me to unplug the phone in your office? It’s ringing off the hook.”

“Do whatever you feel necessary Phoebe, you’re in charge for the day.”

“In charge? Me?” The intern gasped.

“Yes, you’ve shown good initiative, when I retire you can have my job.” Pepper added sarcastically.

“I’m sorry Miss; I’ve been told I’m too persistent.” Phoebe blushed. Pepper took pity on the young girl, seeing parts of herself when she started working for Stark Industries.

“No, you’re doing well Phoebe.” Pepper tried to sound more genuine.

“I hope your daughter’s okay Pepper.” Phoebe smiled again, rushing for Pepper’s office, to maintain communications with the PR department at the Avengers Tower and the press.

Pepper went and sat with Lacey, just holding her hand and observing her; she was pale, bandaged and hurt but she was alive. Pepper could see the rise and fall of her chest – she was definitely alive.

Pepper didn’t want to go talk to the Doctor, but she had to. She knew she had to. There were now lots of basic things Lacey wouldn’t be able to do on her own for a while and Pepper had to be there to do them for her. She stood and went out to find someone, but she was found first.

“Aah, Pepper, you might want to sit down.” A Doctor took hold of her arm and sat her down regardless of whether she wanted to sit down. The Doctor was a handsome man, light brown hair just brushing his eyebrows, kind green eyes reassuring Pepper. “The news isn’t all bad, I promise.” He smiled, he had a lovely smile.

“Okay.”

“We’ve patched her up as best we can, her legs and arms took a battering, it’ll be a week or two before we let her try standing on her own.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” Pepper scoffed.

“I know Lacey’s a persistent girl but we have to make her health a priority right now.”

“I know, but she won’t.”

“Anyway, her right arm was badly broken, they must have operated for some reason or another, the muscles and ligaments were torn and we’ve struggled to fix the nerves back together but we’ve done it. The movement in her right hand will be less but she can use it, which is the best we could make of this situation.”

“Thank god,” Pepper sighed.

“As far as we can tell, there’s nothing wrong with her brain. But we can’t predict how much trauma she’s suffering without her conscious. We have a therapist on site though,”

“Since when have we had a therapist on site?” Pepper asked. The Doctor shrugged.

“A therapist is a last resort Ms Potts, we often encourage the patient to talk to parents before we assign them to a foreign- but you know that.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m always here if you want to know anything about Lacey’s progress.”

“What was your name?”

“Carl, Miss Potts, Carl Summers.”

“Thank you, Dr Summers.” Pepper smiled at him, distracted by a lot of noise entering the medical department. She saw 2 brightly coloured suits being brought in on stretchers, Clint and Natasha were holding each other up, Thor was bleeding, Bruce was panting and Steve looked pale. Pepper ran down the hall to meet them. “What the hell happened? Where’s Tony?” Pepper asked Steve.

“Tony suits and Electric Power-Hungry Wannabe Goddesses don’t go together.” Steve breathed, clearly tired. His suit was slashed and torn but his skin was barely marked, but he was shattered. “That was harder than we anticipated.”

“Where’s Tony?” Pepper asked again, taking Steve to sit on the plastic seats she’d just been on with Dr Summers, but he’d disappeared.

“He went to confront Volt on his own. She destroyed the suit, frazzled all the wiring, they almost took out his heart. But Peter saved him.”

“Where’s Peter?” Pepper asked. Steve sighed, running his hands through his hair.

.

When Lacey woke up it was a gradual process – she began in a similar state to before; conscious but without the energy to do anything. She couldn’t feel her Mom’s hand anymore, she couldn’t hear anything in the room, but she heard talking outside – she thought she could hear her Papa but she couldn’t be sure if they were back yet; how long had she been unconscious? She barely remembered what had happened at Volt’s tower, she vaguely remembered Bruce carrying her and Natasha giving her a gun but she didn’t remember encountering Peter or anyone else. She heard a door open and someone sit to her left, but she was waiting for the energy to be able to move.

When she did wake up properly opening her eyes seemed like a big achievement. She couldn’t sit up, it hurt too much, but from what she could see she was in the medical department, in a ward she didn’t know they had. She saw loads of people going past the window – Doctors and Nurses and patients? She didn’t understand but right now she didn’t care.

“Lacey?” Her Mom’s tentative voice whispered from her side. “How’re you feeling?”

“Awful. What happened? Where are Dad and Papa?” Lacey asked, expecting them to be there.

“Err, there was a lot of damage, sweetheart.”

“How much damage? No one’s died, right?”

“No, they’re all alive.”

“When did they get back?”

“About 5 minutes ago.”

“Where are they?” Pepper didn’t answer. “Mom? What’s going on?”

“They’re alright, mostly, but, uh,”

“But what, Mom?” Pepper remained silent. “Mom, please; just tell me.”

“Peter’s been hurt, Lace, really badly.”


	16. Chapter 16

_They jumped out of the helicarrier to the roof. There was no one there; it was empty._

_“So, when do they attack us?” Natasha asked._

_“C’mon.” Tony led them inside the building. He cautiously kicked the door open – 500 soldiers were ready and waiting. “Change of plan,” Tony said, not moving. “Everyone stay and fight the first lot.” Tony shouted as he flew over the soldiers. Peter aimed for one of the high beams and followed Tony. Hulk pushed through all the soldiers, ignoring the electric shocks they tried to stun him with._

_They fought their way through hundreds of awaiting soldiers before they got to the maze of empty corridors and stairways. Tony stopped to shoot some of the men at the back, trying to help the others in whatever vague way he could._

_“How do we know where she is?” Peter asked. Hulk ran off down one corridor, Peter ran after him, assuming Bruce had found something before they left._

_“Sir, I’ve been able to analyse the schematics of the building while you were inside – Volt is residing in a large office 5 floors down.” JARVIS told Tony and he was gone._

“We’ve been expecting you, Mr Stark-Rogers.” Volt smirked.

“Before I completely destroy you, would you like to inform me of where this serum of yours is? It’s something I’d like to pour down your throat in a big enough quantity to drive you insane.” Tony smirked.

“It’s not hard to find. But I’d like to see you pin me down for long enough to make me take it.” Volt laughed, sending a lightning bolt in Tony’s direction. He deflected it with a laser beam.

“It wouldn’t take much, a few more of these,” Tony fired three consecutive shots. Volt deflected all of them.

“We could do this for a very long time. Just let me kill you and this will be a lot quicker.” Volt sighed; bored.

“You think I’d give up that quickly?”

“I think you have before.”

“Not when Lacey’s concerned.” Tony muttered, firing consistently until Volt was lost in a sea of bright light and a crackling sound of something frying. Tony stopped; he didn’t know what had happened.

There was an explosion and Tony was thrown backwards, slamming against the wall and sliding down to the floor, scratching the paint on his back plate and ruining the wall paper.

“Did you really think a few of your laser beams would bring me down?” Volt laughed, Tony tried to stand but Volt zapped him back to the floor. “You’re making this easier than it needs to be Iron Man, do you want to just curl up and die in that corner over there?” Volt zapped him again, rolling him over and preparing to electrify his heart, killing him completely.

“What did you do to my girlfriend?” Peter screamed across the room at Volt, unaware that he was saving Tony.

“Oh, exciting; girlfriend?”  Volt turned away from Tony and crossed her arms over her chest, smiling at Peter. “Spider-Man, son in law of Iron Man and Captain America – doesn’t scan very well does it? Especially not with the press.”

“I don’t tend to love girls because of how well it scans with the press.” Peter screamed, shooting a web and wrapping it round Volt’s wrist, pulling her away from Tony. She couldn’t do anything about it. “She’s 18, she has a heart condition and she probably has the most powerful family in the world. How the _hell_ can you not feel guilty about doing something like that?” Peter shouted. Volt tried to hit him with a lightning bolt but he swung from the ceiling, avoiding the bolt still having hold of Volt and kicking her in the head and knocking her to the floor and freeing her from his grasp.

“’Love’,” Volt laughed. “The biggest weakness.” She stood and Peter knocked her down again, staying in the air was his best advantage; he remembered what Tony said about how she’d electrify with every punch she threw. “Love makes you angry, stops you from thinking straight.” Volt grabbed one of Peter’s strings and yanked it, throwing him off balance and certifying he went tumbling to the ground with a crash.

Volt laughed. “Peter Parker. She may have been strong on camera, but you should have seen her when we filled that bath with spiders; she told us everything.”

_“Don’t ask me to get spiders out the bath though – insects are my weakness.”_

Peter remembered the conversation they had about insects; she would have been terrified. Volt electrified Peter while he was down. He grunted but tried to stand. Volt electrified him again.

“Stop,” Tony muttered, trying to stand but not strong enough – the broken down suit was too heavy for him and he was too weak.

“Don’t make me finish you off Stark!” Volt screamed, electrifying Peter again. Tony could only watch and try to remain breathing as she beat Peter up within an inch of his life. She jumped on his legs. “Breaking them like the twigs they are.” She muttered, Peter screamed, never having felt so much pain in such a short amount of time. She stepped on his thigh, applying enough pressure to cause him pain then snapping the bone.

Tony could only watch as she continued to break him, his ribs, his arms, each bone broken clean in half. It was when his spine snapped and Peter’s body went limp, he stopped fighting that Tony got his energy back.

“That’s my daughters’ boyfriend!” He cried, shooting straight at Volt’s chest, knocking her to the ground screaming. Tony stood over her, placing his foot on her stomach, his hand pointed straight at Volt’s heart; she was struggling to breathe. “Love is never a weakness. I pity you for thinking so.” Tony shot straight at Volt’s heart, stopping it.

Tony picked up Peter’s limp body and burst out the window, flying up to the roof and collapsing there. The helicarrier was gone – it took Lacey home.

“J-JARVIS?” Tony muttered, placing Peter on the ground and stumbling.

“Yes, Sir?”

“Please get an aircraft out here; anything.” Tony begged, falling to his knees.

“Of course, sir.” JARVIS complied, as he was programmed to do. Tony fell on his chest next to Peter. He grunted, rolling onto his back.

“Steve?” Tony asked, hoping their in-ears were still working.

“Tony? Thank god, where are you? Where’s Peter? We’re done, we did it. We’re a bit battered by they’re all dead.”

“We,” Tony breathed. “We’re on the roof. I’m pretty sure Peter’s dying.”

“I’m on my way.” Steve was running. Tony opened the face panel and pulled the head-piece off, feeling the wind through his hair and wiping the sweat from his brow as the clouds began to spin and Tony fell unconscious.

.

“Lacey, where are you going? Come back!” Pepper called – she wasn’t meant to be able to walk, let alone _run_ to wherever they’d taken Peter. She stumbled through the medical corridors that were now a maze, she tried to grip the walls, pushing people out the way and seeing Bruce coming out a room at the end of a corridor pulling rubber gloves from his hands.

She headed for that door. Bruce caught her about halfway down the corridor. “Lace, what’re you doing? Go back to bed!”

“No, what’s wrong with him?” Lacey was panting, pushing past Bruce into Peter’s room. She hadn’t been aware of how much pain she was in until she’d started running, but Peter was in a worse condition. Bruce sat her down and made sure she was wasn’t going to pass out before he continued.

Bruce sighed. “He’s, just, kind of, _broken._ I’ve reset all the bones and stopped the bleeding. I had to cut the suit from him, so he’ll need a new one. His healing abilities have already started working – he’ll be conscious soon enough. Let’s get you back-”

“No, I want to stay.” Lacey argued. Bruce didn’t want to argue with her, but she wasn’t going to get any better.

“Lacey,” He started. She glared at him. “At least let me bring your drip in?”

“Whatever.” Lacey sighed, just wanting to be alone with Peter, regardless of whether he was conscious.

She took Peter’s hand in her own, feeling scratches and bruises under her grip. “Oh Peter, why did we do this? Something like this was always going to happen. In the world we live in this always happens – look at Pops or Thor; they both had to leave their loves behind. Pops found Dad but who’s Thor got? One day I’ll die and you’ll keep going. The Avengers will probably live forever but I won’t. I’m weak. I’m human.” Lacey kept talking, all the things she could never actually say. Although Peter wasn’t conscious, she didn’t feel alone. “Maybe we should just finish this; us. We’re only going to get hurt in the end.” Lacey pondered.

She sighed, deciding she probably shouldn’t have left her bed. But no one else was going to stay with him – she didn’t want him to be alone. It was confronting Volt _alone_ that almost killed him and he’d done that for her. She’d train to be an Avenger just to make sure someone always had his back, she’d let a tiny spider with a powerful bite take a nip of her neck if it meant she could help Peter.

She didn’t want to love him, but she couldn’t help it. And she’d finally admitted it to herself. “I love you, Pete. I don’t want to, I never wanted to fall in love with a Super-Hero, but you made it so easy.” She laughed. “But the things they’d made me watch,” Lacey smile faded as the memories flooded her mind – everything hurt.

She clutched her head, suddenly pounding. She fell to the floor, trying not to let it beat her. But she saw flashes of Spider-Man being beaten, she felt spiders crawling up her arm but when she batted them away there was nothing there.

“I’m hallucinating. There’s nothing there. I’m hallucinating.” She muttered, the images of Spider-Man and Iron Man and all of the Avengers being beaten and killed flashing. “It’s just my imagination.”

“Lacey?”

“No, Peter, go, they’ll-”

“Lacey, what’s going on?” Peter asked.

Lacey stopped; she opened her eyes, the white surfaces too bright for a second. Peter was propped up in bed, gazing worriedly at her, wondering what the hell was going on in her head.

“Peter, I’m so sorry.” She whispered, but she passed out before she could explain what she was sorry for.

Peter pressed the red button next to his bed and Bruce came back in with Lacey’s drip.

“I don’t know what happened; she was having some sort of panic attack.” Peter explained. Bruce called more Doctor’s in – they carried Lacey away. Bruce stayed.

“How do you feel Peter?”

“Numb.”

“Not about Lacey.”

“Like a pile of broken bones held together with some patchy skin.”

“Just wiggle your fingers for me.” Bruce instructed. Peter did. “And your toes.” Peter obeyed. “Thank god.”

“What?”

“When she snapped your back… I didn’t know if the nerves would right themselves. But they clearly have. At this rate you’ll be good as new inside 3 days.”

“What about you?”

“I’m alright.”

“And everyone else?”

“Clint and Natasha fought the hardest, they’ll probably be asleep for another 16 hours. Thor and Steve are mostly alright, just a bit shaken up. I had to replace Tony’s heart; the arc reactor was killing him. He’s weak, but should be fine within a week.”

“Do I dare ask about Lacey?”

“They patched her up well but she’s not super-human; it’ll be months before she’s training again, but even then she’ll have to start again – built up muscle and stamina again. But after that episode, I’m more concerned about her mind than her body.”

“What do we do?”

“I’ll put her in for a few more sensitive scans – you know Lacey, it would take a lot to break her mentally.”

“You think there’s something in her brain making her hallucinate?”

Bruce only shrugged. “It’s a theory.”

.

Peter and Bruce sat talking for most of the afternoon. Peter could slowly feel himself loosening up as his bones began to mend, he could almost comfortably move his wrist by the end of the day, it was stiff but working.

“Have you got Lacey’s scans back yet?” Peter asked while Bruce was spoon feeding him – he wasn’t supposed to be strong enough to do it himself yet.

“Yes, I was right.”

“They’ve got something to force her to hallucinate?”

“Don’t sound too impressed, Pete.”

“I know, I know. But that’s an impressive bit of tech.”

“Bruce, get it out now.” Tony stormed in, surprisingly on topic.

“Tony, there’s no way I’m qualified for major brain surgery. I could do some real damage and not know it.”

“Bruce, you are the only one I trust to do this.” Bruce still seemed hesitant. “There’d be qualified brain surgeons in the room with you, as long as they don’t touch her head.”

“There’ll be a wound where they implanted it. I’ll see if I can reopen that.” Bruce muttered.

“So you’ll do it?” Bruce nodded. “Thank you!” Tony beamed, pulling the shorter Doctor into a hug.

“Let go Tony.” Bruce smiled. “When to you want me to do it?”

“As soon as-”

“I’ll do it now.” Bruce sighed.

“She’s still out cold. Thank you Bruce!” Tony resisted hugging him again and Bruce left them to it.

Tony realised for the first time that Peter was in the room and smiled at him.

“Thanks for saving me back there, kiddo.”

“I could say the same, but without the kiddo bit on the end. Probably shove a ‘Sir’ in there.”

“I’d be dead if it weren’t for you.”

“Again, that goes 2 ways. Good job on killing Volt though, I heard it was good.”

“That’s what I told everyone.”

“How’s Lacey? I didn’t really get the chance to ask her while she was here.”

“She was doing better than you at first, but then you and the whole spider thing and- she’ll be okay. The Avengers are taking a week off; we’ll all be there to help her.”

“How’s her hand?”

“Working. Mostly.”

“And her heart?”

“All yours buddy.”

“You know what I mean.”

“She’ll have to start again with her training. But it’s still working. Nothing’s _worse_.”

“Can she walk at all?”

“No. But she can’t not walk; she’ll be able to walk when her leg’s healed.”

“So there’s no permanent damage?”

“Nothing physical.”

“Just suspected trauma?”

“We can’t be sure, post-traumatic stress disorder doesn’t change the anatomy of the brain. Look at Steve – he’s fine but he freaks out when it snows. He’s never built a snowman with Lacey because he can’t face the ice.”

“What would she be scared of?”

“We don’t know the half of what happened in there Peter. And maybe she’ll never feel like she can tell us, but that’s alright. When she’s ready, she’ll talk.” Tony explained. Peter nodded.

“You look tired, Tony.” Peter told him. Tony was pale and sweaty, his body not having yet overcome the failure of his previous heart, or not yet used to his new one.

“Hasn’t stopped me yet.”

“You need to lie down, Tony.”

“Correction: hasn’t _killed_ me yet. I won’t ‘lie down’ except on my terms, and even then it won’t be in medical – I’ll sleep in my own bed with my Steve,” Tony smiled. “I mean Steve, just Steve.” Tony corrected the possessive pronoun.

“I’m going back to my bed tomorrow night.” Peter announced.

“We should rename ourselves – who needs the Avengers when you can have to Scared of Hospitals Club?” Tony ignored the majority of what Peter said.

“You’re healthier than I thought Tony – still being sarcastic.” Peter chuckled.

“I’m sarcastastic.” Tony smirked, posing as if his picture was being taken.

“Save it for Steve.” Peter laughed.

“Rest up kid, Bruce says he’ll get you some crutches tomorrow.” Tony gently tapped Peter’s shoulder and turned off the lights as he left. Peter dozed off, hoping that Bruce would tell him how Lacey’s surgery went in the morning.

.

With the crutches, Peter was moving slowly. He had Tony and Steve either side of him, Bruce walking backwards 2 steps in front of Peter to catch him in case he fell.

“Just take it slowly, but I need to pee and you’ve still got a corner to go.” Tony encouraged him.

“I’m going as fast as you’ll let me.” Peter sped up his tentative shuffling as Tony began to cross his legs and jump up and down.

“Don’t push yourself Peter; you can go back to bed if you don’t feel up to it.” Bruce offered.

“I’m fine! Just give me time.” Peter took larger steps, trying to hurry up Tony could go pee, they’d get off his back about going too quickly and so he could see Lacey. That was their destination; Lacey’s room.

As soon as he was outside the door, Tony skipped off to go pee and Bruce went to attend to other patients. Steve opened the door and set Peter up a chair, taking the crutches and balancing them on the wall, pulling up his own chair and sitting next to Peter, who had his arms crossed on Lacey’s bed, using his limbs as a pillow. She was asleep.

“You alright, Pete?”

“Yeah, just tired.”

“You did well.”

“Thanks.” Peter breathed, balancing his chin on his wrist and waiting for Lacey.

She’d been propped up on pillows and was curled up facing away from Peter and Steve. Peter could see the scar at the base of her hairline; it would be hidden perfectly when she didn’t have her hair tied back.

She groaned and turned over, lying on her back, noticing Peter and Steve for the first time.

“Oh, hi.” She muttered. “Oh god. Peter, I’m so sorry about yesterday.”  She put her hand on his head, brushing her thumb through his hair. He smiled at her.

“It’s fine, really, it wasn’t you.” Peter took her hand from his head and put it under his chin, not sitting up straight.

“How’re you feeling?”

“Me? What about you?”

“I feel like a 13th century church after facing a proto-type nuclear bomb. So, you?”

“I’m better. Good analogy.”

“Thanks.”


	17. Chapter 17

Peter was back in his own room that night. He was worn out and he was tired but x-rays said everything was back to normal.

Tony was never going to comply with his prescribed rest but he was back to normal; colour returned to his face and fully functioning heart in 4 days.

But Lacey didn’t have super healing abilities. She didn’t have an arc reactor. She had a broken thigh, ripped muscles and post-traumatic stress disorder. It was 4 weeks before she was allowed back to the comfort of her own room, medical equipment accompanying her. Tony had requested Peter stayed with her at night, if she were to require anything.

Lacey was fragile; most of the bruises had healed up but one touch in an unknown sensitive area had her in so much pain they had to have her under sedation to manage it.

It was while he was sharing a bed with her every night, Peter found out about the nightmares.

She’d fallen asleep relatively easily and Peter had stayed up a little later, just to make sure she was comfortable and showing no signs of relapse – Bruce had made him a list. He settled down next to her, draping his arm over her waist and laying his head on the pillow. I didn’t take him long to drift off.

He was woken up again but Lacey muttering incoherently, almost directly in his ear. She’d turned herself over while they were asleep and was gently thumping her closed fist on Peter’s chest. She was getting louder and more distraught.

“Lace, Lacey wake up.” Peter shook her gently, but the attempts to rouse just seemed to scare her more.

“P-Peter no, don’t, Dad no! Pops, please.” She just screamed.

“Lacey! Wake up!” Peter shouted, silencing her and finally waking her. She was breathless, just staring at him for a moment before she collapsed into the pillow crying. “Ssh, ssh, I’m sorry, I’m here, okay?” Peter whispered, hugging her close. Once she’d calmed down a bit he dared to ask what she’d been dreaming of. “What happened?”

She sat up and sniffed, wiping the tears from her eyes and trying to control her breathing. “It was just all the people I love getting hurt. And I couldn’t do anything. You were screaming out for me but I couldn’t move, I couldn’t help you. It was, it was so horrible.”

Peter sat up with her and hugged her again. “Do you want me to go get your Dad? He’s good at dealing with nightmares.”

“How do you know?”

“He was talking to Steve about it in the workshop once.”

“Why were you there?”

“Training is boring, ‘kay?”

“You’ve been in the workshop with Dad and Bruce loads, what’re you doing?”

“Just one intellectual man speaking with others.”

“You’d tell me if you were up to something, wouldn’t you?”

“Of course.” Peter rested his chin on the top of her head and tried not to yawn – he looked at the clock, it was 3am. “Do you want to go back to sleep? Y’know, rest is good.”

“You can sleep if you want, you don’t have to stay up for me.”

“Are you sure you’re alright?”

Lacey nodded. “Nightmares aren’t new to me.”

“What? Since when?”

“First time I watched a news article on the Avengers.”

“You worry too much.” Lacey yawned. “You need to sleep.”

“I don’t want to.”

“I’m here. You’re safe. Nothing will happen.”

“Not in real life, no.”

“Do you want to go for a walk? Get out of here for a bit.”

“I can’t.”

“We’ve got the wheelchair.”

“Just sleep Peter. I’m fine.” Lacey tried to smile reassuringly at him, he held her gaze for a moment.

“Well, if you insist.” He settled down to sleep again, resting his head on Lacey’s thigh. She stroked his hair, knowing it relaxed him and waited for his breathing to deepen – he was asleep. Lacey didn’t want to go back to sleep, but her eyes betrayed her and she was soon dozing against the cushioned headboard, a deep, dreamless sleep surrounding her.

.

It was 2 months after the incident that they let Lacey try walking. She walked from her room to the elevator and from the elevator to the gym. She didn’t use crutches because her arms weren’t strong enough to hold herself up but she was leaning heavily on Peter and trying to put as little weight as possible on her left leg, the one with the huge gash from the knife incident.

“Can’t you just carry me now? This bloody hurts.” Lacey asked.

“No, the door is just there.”

“I know where the door is.” She snapped.

“You’ve come this far, you can do it yourself.”

“As soon as we get through that door I’m going to fall on my face and just lie there, kay?”

“I’ll carry you when we get through the door, deal?”

“Deal.” Lacey agreed, hobbling a little bit faster and working through the pain. “I really need to start training again.”

“You just said it hurt?!”

“When it hurts less. I shouldn’t be tired from walking from my room to here.”

“You’re doing great. 5 more steps and you’ll be there.”

“Why are we even going to the gym? I don’t want to sit and watch you spar with Clint, I could watch paint dry and it’d be more entertaining.”

“You’re so cranky today.”

“Shut up.” Peter pushed the door open and together they walked through. Peter scooped her into his arms and Lacey breathed a sigh of relief, smiling at him. “That’s better.” Peter returned the smile, looking from Lacey to whoever cleared their throat from across the gym. Lacey looked up too. “Mom? What are you doing here?”

“We’ve got a surprise for you.” Pepper smiled.

“Do I have to do anymore walking to get it or is it under that subtly-placed cloth in the ring?”

Pepper laughed, gripping the cloth with one hand. “You ready?” She couldn’t stop smiling. Lacey could only smile at how happy her Mom was.

“Sure.” Lacey laughed, having no idea what was really going on. She gasped when the cloth was clear. There was an Iron Man suit, more feminine and definitely less used, but a suit none the less.

The original chrome and red colours had been painted over with black and a piercing blue, it was shiny and new and Lacey was totally gobsmacked.

“When did you- How did you- Is this why you’ve been in the workshop?” She asked Peter as he walked towards to ring, ducking under the ropes to get in.

He laughed. “No.”

“Would Tony let _us_ do _this_ in _his_ workshop?” Pepper laughed.

“We used your lab. Tony’s not been in there; Bruce caught us once but swore not to tell him as long as we let him help.” Peter explained.

Lacey reached for the ground and balanced on one leg in front of the suit, touching the cold metal plates.

“We know you can’t use it yet but we finished, I couldn’t wait to give it to you.” Pepper blushed.

“I love it, Mom, thank you.” Lacey beamed, Pepper hugged her.

“So you gave it to her?” Bruce came in, smiling along with everyone else. “It’s a beautiful piece of tech. Some of it was a bit rusty but I rewired most of it.”

“How long did it take?”

“We had to rewire most of it. It took a few hours at most – it’s nothing on what Tony has now but it’s a good. You could remote control it or you could get inside, I put a shadow function in too, just because I’ve been experimenting.” Bruce admitted.

“This is great. This is _so_ great. I can’t explain how much I really love this, thank you.” Lacey looked between the three of them.

“Miss Potts, Mr Stark is on his way to the gymnasium.” JARVIS interrupted.

“Why? JARVIS did you tell him what we were doing?” Pepper asked.

“He asked.”

“Mom, you can’t hide this from him.” Lacey tried to reason.

“I thought we could for a _little bit_ longer.” She shrugged.

“He won’t mind _that_ much.” Bruce shrugged.

“I beg to differ.” Lacey and Pepper answered simultaneously.

“Shall we try and look less like we’re waiting for him?” Lacey asked, pivoting back to the suit, daring to take a step closer on her own. Peter lunged to grab her arm, cautious of her falling. “Peter chill, I’m not an elderly lady crossing the street.” He remained with his hand round her waist regardless.

“So, what’s going on here?” Tony strolled in, trying to be casual with his hands in his pockets. “What’s that?”

“It’s the suit you made me, Tony.” Pepper explained. “Me and Peter painted it, Bruce redid all the wiring; we thought Lacey would make better use of it.”

“That’s great. That’s a _lovely_ thought.”

“That’s way too enthusiastic to be genuine Dad. But good try.” Lacey smirked.

“You’re meant to be in bed, anyway.”

“Nuh-uh! Today’s been walking day for, like, 3 weeks.”

“Has it?”

“You agreed not to interfere.”

“I’m not interfering.”

“I didn’t say you were; it’s just probably why you didn’t remember.”

“Let me look at that.” Tony barged past Bruce and Pepper to get to the suit.

“Dad, don’t get competitive.” Lacey whispered, not wanting him to upset Pepper.

“I won’t, but the chest plates have been put back on wrong, the left arm has a faulty elbow joint and that plate would pop your knee cap off. I’ll make you one and it’ll be _so_ much better.” Tony walked away, heading straight for the workshop.

“Dad, that’s-”

“Shush, Lacey, Daddy’s working.” Tony called, closing the door behind him.

“I’m sorry, Mom.”

“It’s okay. I thought he handled it rather well.”

“I’m surprised he noticed those things, actually.” Bruce stated. “I didn’t think he knew the measurements of what he’s designed so well.”

“Uncle Bruce, did you put those faults in on purpose?” Lacey smirked.

“Of course not.” Bruce grinned. “Everyone makes mistakes.”

“Not you.”

“He was drinking last night; I wanted to see if he’d notice even while he was hung over.” Bruce shrugged.

“Why was Dad drinking?” Lacey addressed her Mom.

“You know how he worries.”

“It’s been 2 months.”

“You’ve not walked for two months, Lace. He thinks this is his fault.”

“It’s not!”

“I know that, you know that, _everyone_ knows that; except him.”

Bruce shuffled awkwardly and put his hands in his pockets. “I’ve got to go – got a project going.” He left.

“You don’t have to use this Lace, your Dad’s will probably be better.”

“No, Mom, I love it. I won’t let him make a new one – he can do what he likes to this one then you’ve all worked on it.”

“Clint asked about building a bow into the arm.” Peter laughed.

“I’ll tell Dad I’ll work with him on it; tinkering and bonding all in one, he’ll never say no.” Lacey smiled at her Mom.

“He never says no to you anyway sweetheart.” Pepper chuckled. “You have him wound around your little finger.”

“And that’s the way I like it. Can we go up there?” She asked Peter.

“You sure you’re up for it?” Peter asked, not wanting her to wear herself out. Lacey nodded enthusiastically. “If you’re sure.” Peter took her hand and they began the slow walk to the workshop.

“What should I do with this?” Pepper asked.

“Activate the shadow function – get it to follow us to the lab.”

“Who’s it shadowing?”

“Peter. Then if I get tired you can get it to carry me.” She smirked at him. Pepper set it up and it followed them all the way to the workshop.

Tony and Steve were arguing when they got there.

“Why’s that thing following you?” Tony asked.

“Bruce installed a shadow function.” Lacey smirked; surprised her Dad was actually impressed with the bot. The bot whom she’d fondly named Ruth.

“How’d he do that?” Steve asked.

“Basic mimic feature I assume.” Lacey shrugged.

“Basic? That thing is copying your every move Peter.” Tony was definitely impressed. Peter turned to face Ruth and started waving – she was like a mirror. A huge, black and blue, shiny, metal-plated mirror.  Tony walked towards Peter and the now-dancing bot as Steve helped Lacey to the workbench, lifting her so she was sitting on it. “There’s not even a process time; it’s doing exactly what you do, _exactly_ the same time you’re doing it, Pete.”

“Dad, please don’t make me a new one. Mom worked really hard on it and you’ll just try and outdo her again.”

“You say ‘try’ like it’s hard.” Tony scoffed.

“Tony!” Steve stopped him. “It’s not fair on Pepper – she’s been working on painting that thing for weeks. She only involved Peter so she could move it to the gym and Bruce to get it working.”

“Since when did everyone get so sentimental about robots round here? I thought that was my job.”

“You struggle to be sentimental around humans, Dad.” Lacey remarked snidely.

“Hey! I take great offence at that.” Tony turned to face her.

“Bruce said you were drinking last night.” Lacey accused.

“Two bottles _totally_ doesn’t count.”

“He said you were drunk.”

“Maybe it wasn’t 2 bottles. Maybe I was a _little_ intoxicated.”

“What made you turn to alcohol?”

“A childhood of neglect and exhaustion.”

“Stop it Dad.”

“Stop what?”

“Tony.” Steve warned.

“Yes Steve?” Tony chirped, in one of his most irritating moods.

“You’re being a dick again.” Lacey answered.

“Not _quite_ how I was going to word it.” Steve commented, mostly to himself. Peter smirked.

“And how am I being a dick, Lace? I’d appreciate less of the language, just saying.”

“Your motto is ‘Fuck it, where’s the alcohol?’”

“Lacey!” Steve reprimanded. Tony lowered his eyebrow and tried to glare at her.

“It’s true! Why were you drinking?”

“You’ve been bed-bound for 2 months, Lacey Potts, I was scared okay.”

“Scared of what?”

“Scared of losing you.”

“Losing me to what? If I couldn’t walk we’d already know, if I had any permanent damage, we’d _know_. What’re you scared of?”

“Don’t try and rationalise a father’s fear of losing her daughter; I didn’t mean to injury. One day you’ll leave, maybe with Peter, maybe with another man, you’ll leave and you won’t be Daddy’s little girl anymore, or Papa’s little Princess. And nothing can stop me feeling that fear, not alcohol, not reassurance, nothing. Because it will happen.”

“Not yet.”

“I know. I just want to give you the best I can while you’re still here.”

“And that’s fine, just don’t hurt Mom in the process.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too.” Tony walked back over to Lacey and hugged her.

“That’s more like it.” Steve smiled. Peter was still dancing with the robot.

“So are we going to work on this robot or not?”

“Can I call her Ruth?” Lacey asked. Peter, Tony and Steve all burst out laughing. “I know you call Iron Man Robert!”

“Only because Robert sounds a bit like robot.” Tony defended himself; Steve and Peter laughed harder.

“I know you name your shooters, don’t laugh at us!” Lacey pointed at Peter and he stopped too. “You call them Honey and Baby and you can’t remember which is right and which is left.” Lacey teased. Steve was rolling on the floor.

“He hasn’t named his shield.” Tony shrugged. “Though some of the names he has for me…” Tony smirked. Steve stopped too.

“I don’t want to hear this.” Lacey shook her head.

“I second that!” Peter agreed, putting his hand in the air. “Hey, so does Ruth!”

“What’re you going to do to her Dad?” Lacey asked, interested now that they’d all calmed down.

“Fix the chest plates, elbow and knee, then add the shadow feature to my suit. I want a dancing robot.” Tony pouted.

“Take Peter, he’ll dance for you.” Lacey giggled.

“I’m not a monkey! Don’t make me dance. I can’t dance.”

“No you’re a _spider_ , Spider-Man, remember?”

“Dancing Spiders are even worse.”

“Actually, you can dance better than Dad.”

“I can dance better than Tony Stark? Great, that’s a life achievement.” Peter replied sarcastically.

“I can dance!” Tony protested.

“Mom will tell you otherwise.”

“I can manage.”

“It’s swaying; you couldn’t do any proper ‘dancing’ if you tried.”

“If I had a dancing robot, I might be better.”

“Dad; you can’t dance. Papa’s a pretty good dancer.”

“Haha, I win on best dancing father.” Steve began to do his celebration dance around the couch and Tony gazed at Lacey, one eyebrow raised.

“Well, he wasn’t bad at the ball you held celebrating 25 years of Iron Man.”

“Why’re we talking about dancing?” Tony asked.

“Because I can dance better than you.” Peter smiled, making Ruth do the robot dance then trying to moon walk.

“Let’s get fixing.” Tony instructed, clearing his work bench and making Peter lie Ruth down on it, which resulted in him lying on the floor and waiting there as they turned the shadow function off.

Tony, Lacey, Peter and Steve tinkered all afternoon. It was mostly Tony with 3 extra pairs of hands, but they were three willing and enthusiastic pairs of hands.

When they were done they all settled on the couch with a soda and admired Ruth, now hanging next to Iron Man Robert.

“I think she’s beautiful.” Lacey initiated the conversation.

“She’s walking more smoothly than she was on the way here.” Peter stated.

“She’s so complicated. I’ve never seen so many wires in one place.” Steve was impressed.

“That’s a lie; you’ve been here while I’ve had Iron Man out, you’ve seen what he’s like. Heck, you’ve seen JARVIS’ coding; you should be used to this Steve.”

“I know but I’m not. I’ll never _truly_ get used to all this.” Steve gestured around the workshop.

“I’ll give your Mom one thing,” Tony mused.

“What?” Lacey asked.

“Nice colour scheme, black and blue; striking.”


	18. Chapter 18

“Duck, right hook, laser, 3 punch combination, dodge; let me hit you, so I can win, please.” Tony guided Lacey in fighting the pre-programmed sparring bot he’d created. She was inside her Iron Woman suit, training with her Dad again.

The mission with Volt was a total of 6 months ago. Lacey’s leg was still weak, it would forever be her weaker leg, but she was working on improving her stamina again and she’d been learning to use the suit with Tony too.

“There’s no way I’m _letting_ you win.” Tony could hear the smirk in Lacey’s voice, even though the ‘mouth’ of the mask was distinctly turned down. Lacey employed a hitch kick to knock the Iron Man simulations head back and stun him for long enough to drive a punch to his stomach and a round house kick to his legs. He was on the floor.

“You’ve never let Daddy win.” Tony pouted, turning the simulation off, putting the suit on and preparing to fight himself.

“That because _Daddy_ always beats me; I never let your simulation win.”

“Lace, you’re not up to actually fighting me yet.”

“I’m working on it.” Lacey lifted the mask and climbed out the ring, using one of her Dad’s devices to take the suit off bit by bit; she’d find it reassembled in the workshop next time she went in. “But right now, it’s time for a nap.”

“It’s 3 in the afternoon.”

“Perfect nap time.”

“You sleep too much.”

“It hasn’t bothered me before and it doesn’t bother me now.”

“You need to get out of the habit of napping.”

“That’s what Bruce said yesterday.”

Lacey went and sat in the middle of the sprung floor and Tony sat opposite her, the huge suit clunking as he tried to sit cross legged.

“Have you thought about being an Avenger?”

“Nope.”

“Would you want to be, at all? You could be.”

“No, I think I’m happy being on the side lines for now.”

“Side lines or waiting in medical?”

“Both. Or in the middle somewhere with a remote control bot. You just told me I wasn’t up to fighting you yet – you can say that then invite me to your Super-Hero gang.”

“Gang?”

“I had this fight with Clint when I called you a ‘crew’.”

“Crew?”

“It was ages ago, shut up.”

“Gang and Crew. You make it sound like we’re selling drugs.”

“I’m pretty sure you are half the time.”

“If I was, I’d do it without them ever having to come to this Tower. But I don’t anyway. You know what your father thinks about drugs.”

“And swearing and drinking and sex and everything even a little bit rebellious.”

“He’s just brought up differently.”

“I don’t resent him for it.”

“Because you do it anyway.”

“Not the drugs or the drinking.”

“But the sex?”

“I’m not discussing this with you. You know we all have to ask JARVIS whether you and Papa are dressed before we enter the workshop.”

“You still do that?”

“Well, we don’t want to interrupt.”

“You know Clint does that before he goes into your room regarding you and Peter?”

“No he doesn’t, he walked in on- never mind.”

“He walked in on…?”

“It was the morning after.”

“Actually, I don’t want to know.”

“I wasn’t going to tell you.”

“Peter’s a nice bloke.”

“You two have spent a hell of a lot of time in the workshop together, what’re you doing?”

“Just tinkering – I’m helping him with the shooters.”

“You made him new ones last month; you can’t be improving them already?”

“Nothing is ever finished.”

“Did I tell you about the new idea for the suit I had?”

“You did. Well, you designed it and saved it on the hard drive – I _saw_ it, we never discussed it.”

“Did you like it?”

“It’s clever, but working out the density issue will be the hardest bit – if we did it exactly how you designed it’d be too difficult to move with any strength.”

“I _didn’t_ tell you about the light-weight gold-aluminium alloy I created though.”

“How’d you do that?”

“Aluminium’s already used as a lightweight material, I experimented with alloying different gold concentrations – made the perfect strong but light material for a suit.”

“What about the material for Peter’s suit?”

“It’s not strong enough to stand the lasers in the hands and feet. It would burn.”

“How much thought have you put into this?”

“However much I love Iron Man, _I_ don’t like the suit – it’s too slow for me. I want something swifter.”

“Do you still want a mask?”

“Yeah.”

“If you’re not being an Avenger, why are we making such a fuss about the suit?”

“I said ‘for now’ – I’ve got a hospital appointment next week, I’m inquiring about the surgery for my heart. I’m fed up of being held back.”

“I always take you to your hospital appointments, what-”

“Dad, I’m almost 19. The day where I start doing things on my own has been and gone. And I want to change the colours of the suit.”

“I like the black and blue; it’s striking and stands out.”

“I don’t want to stand out – I want to sneak up on my opponents and take them out before they know I’m there.”

“What colours do you want then?”

“I was thinking less blocked, swirlier, like shades of grey.”

“Draw me up a basic idea and I’ll see what I can do. So if you get the heart surgery you’ll become an Avenger?”

“I’ll see how it goes.”

“Can’t we wait till after you’ve made your mind up before I go head first into making the suit?”

“Are you doing anything else?”

“No.”

“Then why’re you making such a fuss?”

“It’s a bit too domestic for me.”

“I could do it.”

“No.”

“Make your mind up! Either let me do it or do it yourself.”

“I’ll do it.”

“Thank you Daddy.”

“I can make the design look kind of shadowy. I know you think that looks cool, and I’m a cool Dad, so I will be the provider of cool things.”

“You couldn’t have sounded less cool just then.”

“You don’t know what cool is.”

“I know my Dad is cooler than most, I’ll give you that.”

“It’s nice to hear you admit that.”

“If I was spectating, I’d look up at the tower and go; ‘wow! I bet it’s really cool living there!’”

“But?”

“But having been brought up here I’m so used to the coolness I hardly notice it anymore.”

“This building _radiates_ cool.”

“And ego.”

“I know, I’ve tried to talk to Clint but he simply doesn’t listen.”

“You’re an ass, Dad.” Lacey laughed.

“I know I have a great ass.” Tony winked. “Peter has a great ass.”

“That he does.” Lacey agreed. “I’m discussing my boyfriend’s butt with my Dad.” She laughed again.

“I’ve already stated how cool our family is, but I do acknowledge it’s a dysfunctional one.”

“You should invite Mom next time we go for family dinner; it’s usually just you, me and Papa.”

“Why?”

“Because you always forget her. She’s part of this family too. She feels left out.”

“I’m sorry. I will, you’re right. We’ll go for a proper family dinner.”

“She’s got a boyfriend.”

“Has she?”

“Yeah. She met him in town last month – it was raining and he offered her an umbrella to share.”

“Oh.”

“You’re not going all defensive and ‘but she’s my Pepper’ again, are you?”

“No; I’m happy for her.”

“I almost believed you.”

“It’s Pepper – I’m so used to her being on-off with me that this feels weird.”

“You’ve not been ‘on’ for 20 years, Dad.”

“I know, and I love Papa, I really do, but Pepper…” Tony tried to explain. “I’m happy for her.”

“That’s good, Dad.” Lacey smiled proudly. “I love it when you say you love Papa – even the great Tony Stark can find love.”

“Has the great Lacey Potts found love?”

“Yes. I love Peter.”

“Puppy love?”

“A little. It’s not even been a year yet-”

“I think it will be.”

“What?”

“A year. And more.”

“Really?”

“I’ve seen the way you two look at each other. He still looks at you like you’re the only thing in the world. He looks at you with a look that says; ‘wow, she’s still here, with _me_ ’. You’re so beautiful and he sees that.”

Lacey blushed. “Everyone thinks of you as a heartless, emotionless man, Dad. But you’re not.”

“That means a lot.”

“Sometimes you know precisely when to say the wrong thing,”

“You’re ruining it a little.”

“But when you say the right thing, it’s so perfect.”

“That’s better.”

“We’re edging back towards ‘wrong’ again.”

“Gotta keep up tradition – Tony Stark: Always Saying Inappropriate Things To The Press.” Tony winked, standing up, holding his hands out to Lacey.

“You’re so sassy.” She took his hands and hugged him. “I love you, Dad.”

“I love you too, Lacey.” Tony admitted, squeezing and holding her close, despite the suit he was still wearing. “Maybe we can make the suit together. If you want.”

“I’d like that.”

“Barton stills wants to build a bow in.”

“We can’t with the new spandex design.”

“My daughter wants to wear spandex for a living; how did I let this happen?”

“How many times have you tried to get Dad to wear spandex?”

“Clearly not enough as he still won’t.”

“I know you took one of Peter’s old suits and made him try to wear it on one of your-”

“Yes. That’s something we keep inside this Tower.”

“Oh.”

“What? You didn’t tell Clint, did you?”

“He’s like my brother!”

“That’s a rubbish excuse.”

“You shouldn’t have asked me to sew it back up if you were going to use it!”

“You two have definitely done something along the same lines.”

“No we haven’t!”

“You should.”

“I’m not discussing this with you.”

“Who else will openly discuss your sex life with you?”

“Peter, and preferably no one else. Have you ever thought that your life with Papa is maybe a little bit too sex orientated?”

“It’s not! Steve makes sure we have lovely heart to heart talks every now and then. We talk about feelings and the future and other bullshit.”

“I’m going to tell him you said that. Though you probably already did.”

“He knows how I feel about soppy touchy-feely things. Actually, ignore the touchy-feely bit.”

“When I was little you’d always get me the ‘touchy-feely’ books and put the sticker that says ‘touch me’ on Papa’s forehead.”

“Those were the days.” Tony laughed. “C’mon, we’ll try a bit of shadow sparring.”

“You just want to make the damn thing dance.”

“Maybe it’ll end up being a dance battle.”

“I’ll definitely win.”

“You’re a great dancer.”

“That’s what I meant by ‘I’ll definitely win’.”

“Should have let you start ballet when you asked – could have been wonderful.”

“Could you see me being a ballerina?”

“Yes actually. You’re graceful and poised.”

“That’s like calling Natasha a ballerina. She’d probably drug you for that and leave you on the roof naked.”

“She could do worse things.”

“She _has_ done worse things.”

“JARVIS, can you bring back the Iron Woman please?”

“Are we really shadow sparring? We could just spar normally.”

“This means we don’t hit each other.”

“I’ll hit harder then.” Lacey smirked as Iron Woman was lowered into the ring and Lacey set her to shadow function. Tony did the same they left the ring, standing ready to fight but 20 feet away.

“Come at me, bro.” Tony teased, Lacey rushed forward, aiming a series of well-timed punches and kicks but not knocking Tony to the floor. He took the blows, still poised, protecting his face. Lacey continued to hit him, trying to encourage a reaction but getting nothing more than his basic defence.

“What’re you doing?” Lacey asked, breathless. Tony aimed a punch at her stomach, her cheek and the back of the knee. Ruth was down.

“Sometimes tactics are worth more than skill.”

“What tactic?”

“Wait till the opponent has shattered herself than take her down.”

“Nice one, Dad.”

“You alright?”

“Yeah. Just give me a minute.” Lacey lay down on her back and Ruth seemed to sort of collapse in the ring. Tony couldn’t help but laugh at the now panting robot. Lacey stood and went and changed Ruth’s settings to programmable. “JARVIS, can you put her back in the workshop please.”

“Of course, Miss.” The Iron Man and Woman began walking from the gym up the two floors to the workshop.

“Whoever gets in the elevator with them will be facing a big shock.” Lacey laughed.

“Whoever gets in the elevator at this level should be used to it.” Tony shrugged.

“I don’t think we’ve ever walked bots through the building before.”

“No, we haven’t.” Tony agreed. “You know I’ve had Papa in that suit.” Tony stated, pointing ahead of him at the bots they were following up to the workshop.

“Really?”

“Yeah, he was good as well. Steve’s good at everything though.”

“Too good – has he finished his drawing project yet?”

“Not yet – he says he’s almost done but no one’s allowed to know what it is until he’s finished completely.”

“I wish he’d teach me how to draw. I can draw a stick man and little else.”

“I can draw schematics and robotic plans; that’s about it.”

Lacey paused for a second, remaining silent for just a moment in their walk up to the workshop.

“Dad, if I ever get married,”

“To Peter?”

“Not specifically, maybe. But if I ever get married, who will give me away?”

“Papa, of course. That’s how it worked when you were little. Back when we played weddings.”

“I married you Dad. That’s kind of different.”

“Is it?”

“Dad.” Lacey pushed him for an appropriate answer.

“Papa wants to give you away. I’ll be quite happy to be Peter’s best man.” Tony smirked.

“Dad!”

“I know; I’m kidding!” Lacey didn’t flinch or laugh; she was waiting for a serious answer. “Lace, I’m quite happy not giving you away. I’ll fill the role of getting disastrously drunk and ‘Dad dancing’. Why all the talk about weddings?”

“I was just thinking.”

“You sure?”

“I’m a teenage girl Dad – I daydream about marriage. You daydream about robots.”

“I do not daydream about robots.”

“You know what I mean.”

“You seem subdued all of a sudden.”

“I’m just- tired. This ‘not taking a nap’ thing isn’t working for me.”

“Do you want to come hide in the workshop for a bit?” Tony offered. Lacey nodded and they walked up together. Only Steve was there, squealing and covering his drawing so neither of them could see it and falling on the sofa, pretending to have been watching the switched off TV.

“Hey, I thought you two were sparring?”

“Been there, done that. Lace needs to sleep; thought she could hide down here.” Tony explained.

“Are you alright sweetheart?” Steve asked as Lacey curled up next to him. She nodded. “Who’re you hiding from?”

“Bruce said I should stop napping.”

“You’re still recovering; you need it.”

“Not really – I’m physically and mentally healed. I’m just lazy. Can I sleep on you?”

“Sure thing honey.” Steve agreed, as she settled her head on his lap and he began to stroke her hair, like he did when she was little.

Tony brought up the design for the new suit Lacey had saved, re-examining it and trying to find something he could start working on quietly.

Lacey was soon fast asleep.

“What’s wrong?” Steve whispered.

“I don’t know – she started talking about which of us would give her away if she got married.”

“What brought that on?”

“No idea.”

“Did you ask about her fighting with us?”

“She’s going for an appointment about getting heart surgery next week then she said maybe. I do not understand what is going on in her head.”

“She’s confused and scared Tony.”

“Scared of what?”

“She hasn’t talked about what happened with Volt yet.”

“You think that’s still affecting her?”

“PTSD doesn’t go away Tony. It’s only been 6 months.”

“You should talk to her.”

“Why me?”

“You’re good at that compassion thing.”

“It’s a sensitive topic Tony; she’ll need both of us.”

“Hugs! I’m good at hugs. Sometimes.”

“Tony you’ve been in the gym with her for 3 hours – you’re as good as I am at this.”

“You’re a better father.”

“That’s not true!” Steve raised his voice and Lacey flinched. She started muttering under her breath – her breathing shallower.

“Lacey?” Steve gently nudged her.

“No, don’t,” She mumbled. Steve wasn’t sure if she was awake or not. “Wha- dun touch dat. No, Papa, don’t,” She was getting more distraught.

“Lacey, Lacey wake up.” Steve shook her and Tony was preparing to get a glass of water to tip over her head.

“Dad, wake up, don’t, you can’t.”

“Lacey!” Steve shouted and she jerked away, pushing to get as far away from Steve as she could.

“Get away from me!” She screamed.

“Lace, calm down,” Tony intervened.

“You’re okay?” She questioned, stretching out to touch the arc reactor. Tony gently pulled her in for a hug.

“I’m okay, Papa’s okay, you’re okay; everything’s okay.”

Steve didn’t know what to do. She was scared of _him_.

“What happened?” Tony asked calmly.

“Papa took the arc reactor. You were dying.”

“Look,” Tony lifted his shirt to reveal the glowing heart. “The Arc reactor’s still there and look at Papa; he looks terrified – please go hug him.” Tony instructed, standing so Lacey could crawl towards Steve and hug him.

“I’m sorry Papa.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“I know you wouldn’t hurt any of us.”

“I know, you know. How long have you been having nightmares?”

“As long as I’ve known about the Avengers.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“There’s nothing you can do about nightmares.”

“Why don’t we go get you a glass of water and discuss this downstairs?” Tony suggested. Tony led her downstairs and Steve went to get Peter, explaining the nightmare and the comfort she required.

Peter was left in the living room with Lacey and Steve found Tony and Pepper arguing in the kitchen.

“I should have taken her away when she was born! I _knew_ she’d end up hurt, insane or dead!”

“She was hurt but she’s better, she’s not insane and she’s very much alive, Pepper!”

“No normal 18 year old girl suffers the nightmares she does.”

“You knew?”

“I suspected – my room’s across the hall, it’s not soundproof!”

“Why didn’t you tell us? We can help her!”

“With the post-traumatic stress? No you can’t! You can’t Tony. Why don’t you let me take her on vacation?”

Lacey could hear them arguing.

“It’s just one week Tony. One week away to relax; it’ll help her.”

“No, Pepper, it won’t. She needs to be surrounded by people she knows and familiarity.” Lacey rung her hands; still stressed and panicky. “People suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder don’t magically get better after a holiday.”

Peter tried to stop her hands fiddling and calm her down. But she interrupted Pepper and Tony anyway. Peter followed her.

“You don’t get it. Do you?” She screamed. “I wasn’t just tortured. The things I saw were terrifying but you’re all so scared of asking me what actually happened that I’m even more afraid than I should have to be. I’m always on my own, because you’re always too scared, and what happened is all I have. It keeps replaying again and again in my head and no one will _fucking_ ask me what happened.”

“Do you want to tell us?” Steve asked, after a stunned silence at her outbreak. She hadn’t even noticed him sitting there.

“They didn’t just torture my body. They tortured my mind. They got men dressed in replicas on your costumes, torturing and killing them too. I was half starved and delirious, I heard your screams, watched you die. They even remade you, Mom.” Lacey ranted.

“Sweetheart, I-”

“Don’t touch me.” Lacey hissed, dodging her Mom’s comfort. “That’s what I’ve been reliving. Sorry I’m not quite as sane as I was before.” She began to tear up as she pushed Peter away and ran. None of them moved.

“JARVIS, where’s she gone?” Tony muttered.

“The roof, sir. Would you like me to bring her back in?”

“No, JARVIS, just tell me if she goes within 5 meters from the edge.”

“Yes Sir.”

“She’s kept that to herself for all this time?” Peter muttered.

“I thought someone-”

“Someone? Steve, you’re meant to be her father! It shouldn’t be ‘someone’ it should be you no matter whether it’s been asked before or not. One if not all of you should have asked!” Peter shouted.

“You didn’t either!” Tony retorted.

“I did! I asked her as soon as I was healthy, I wanted to do everything I could to help her but she wouldn’t talk.”

“Maybe she doesn’t love you quite as much as you think Spider-Boy.” Tony sneered.

“Both of you; stop it!” Steve growled. “She’s been through all that and all you can talk about is whose fault is it that she exploded?” He questioned. “Right now, you both fall in the same rank; Dad and boyfriend. Peter, you need to go up and talk to her.”

“Why not me?” Tony whimpered.

“Because she was shouting at you; us. If we’d have asked, she probably wouldn’t have told us either. But it would have given her the green light that she could talk to us when she was ready. Without that green light, the memories lingered and developed, probably way past what really happened.” Steve explained. “Right now, we’re in the wrong Tony. And when she’s calmed down we can apologise and help her.” Steve remained level headed and calm. Tony breathed heavily, anger still flaring in his veins. So much anger that he began to cry; pure, simple tears and gut-wrenching sobs of anger, pain and resentment.

Steve hugged Tony, waving Peter away but he wanted to make sure Pepper was alright before he tried to deal with Lacey.

“Go find Happy; he’ll help you right now.” Peter suggested. Pepper had been crying quietly since Lacey snapped at her. She nodded.

“Thank you Peter.”

Then he headed for the roof.

“Peter, go away!” Lacey shouted at him. He remembered when she’d shouted the same thing at him after she’d fallen out with Steve, all those months ago.

“Lace, just let me up-”

“No.” She muttered, curling her knees up to her chest and sobbing violently. “I watched you die.”

“Lacey, I never died. I wasn’t tortured and I’m right here, see?” Peter sat down next to her. “Is that what all the nightmares were about?”

“I’m scared she’ll come back and do it in real life.”

“Lacey,” Peter hugged her tight. “None of that will happen - Volt is gone, none of its real.”

“It’s so vivid Peter, like a dream that actually happened. All those people hurt and killed to get information out of me; to _damage_ me.”

“And you’re letting them win.”

“No,”

“You’ve got to fight Lacey, or it’ll tear us apart.” Peter didn’t like manipulating her, but telling her it would hurt the rest of them was the best way to get her to fight.


	19. Chapter 19

When the medical equipment moved out of Lacey’s room, Peter didn’t. And Tony allowed it.

“I trust you to be sensible. And no grandchildren till you 25. That still stands.” Was all he said about the matter.

He’d gone from hating the relationship completely to really appreciating Peter – he really looked after Lacey; he brought her flowers for no reason, he was always complementing her and he still gazed at her like she was perfection personified.

So Peter’s room was all but redundant, used only when Tony was ill and didn’t want to give his disease to Steve, even though he couldn’t get it.

Peter woke up first that morning, curled up behind Lacey, he began to play with her hair and tickled her neck with his lips.

“Good morning.” She yawned, turning over to look up at him.

“Good morning. Here,” He smirked, kissing her. “Have a birthday kiss.” She giggled. “Happy birthday.”

“Thank you.”

“Do you want your present now or later?”

“Later – right now I want a shower.” She rolled out of bed and disappeared into the bathroom. Peter checked his emails on his laptop while he waited for her to finish. She emerged 10 minutes later clad only in a towel with pyjamas in her hand. “Your turn.”

“Remember what we agreed yesterday?”

“What?”

“About no gym today? I’ve got the whole day planned.”

“Oh yeah, course. Will do.”

“No going for a quick jog while I’m gone.”

“You take 5 minutes in the shower – what good can I do in 5 minutes?”

“Good, okay, I’ll be right back.” Peter rushed into the bathroom and the shower was back on.

Lacey opened the curtains and the room brightened with the warm July sun. She picked out her favourite denim shorts and a t-shirt and stood in front of the mirror, towel drying her hair as Peter emerged from the bathroom, putting on a fresh pair of boxers and shaking his head like a dog solely to wind Lacey up. Lacey went and rung out her towel over his head and went running off round the room while he tried to catch her and wipe his dripping wet hair in her face. She jumped on the bed and tried to hide under the covers but Peter only tickled her.

“You’re a nightmare.” He laughed.

“You look like an adorable wet puppy.” She ruffled his hair and tried to climb out from under him. He pinned her hands to the bed and kissed her. “Is this part of your well planned day?”

“We can push it back ten minutes.”

“You’re going to be done in ten minutes?”

“Actually, we don’t have time. I need to get dressed.”

“No time for sex on my birthday? Someone has a plan.”

“I’ve planned the sex for later.” He winked, pulling on a fresh t-shirt and some board shorts.

“I should think so too.” Peter pulled her off the bed and they headed for the kitchen. “What’s first then?”

“Breakfast; I’m hungry.”

“Good call. Then what?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“I don’t like surprises.”

“You’ll like these ones.”

“As long as I’m with you.”

“You’re so soppy.”

“You love it.”

“That I do.” Peter opened the door to the kitchen and Lacey was greeted with a chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’ from the rest of the Avengers and Pepper.

“Aww, thanks you guys.” Lacey blushed, surprised by the affection.

“Presents! Let’s open presents!” Clint enthused, jumping up and down.

“Not till later.” Tony shushed him.

“Do they all know your plan?” Lacey asked Peter.

“Most of it.”

“We have a strict timetable!” Steve agreed.

“Is breakfast on the timetable?” Lacey asked.

“Most definitely.”

“I made cakes in the pan.” Thor explained, putting a tray piled high in the middle of the island. They all pulled up chairs and began distributing the pancakes. They spent about an hour in the kitchen, chatting and eating and talking about past missions, new training methods and how Thor’s passion for cooking pancakes was going to make them all fat (and how they should tell him they’re called pancakes).

"Now what?" Lacey asked.

"You've got no patience what so ever, have you?" Peter laughed.

"I don't like surprises!" Lacey whined.

"Okay, okay, we're going shopping, kay? Better now?"

"Yes, definitely." Lacey smiled. "I love you." She pulled on his shirt to peck his lips. The pair got up to leave and Peter set the lift to go all the way down to the underground car park. "Did you get a car?" Lacey asked, knowing he'd wanted one for months.

"Err, yeah." Peter smiled. The elevator dinged and Lacey stepped out - excited to see Peter's new car. Her jaw dropped.

A shiny baby blue mini with a red bow on top was in front of her. Peter dangled the keys in front of her.

"You bought me a car?" She just about formed the words. "But what about you? You've been saving for months."

"I was saving for you."

"You can use it whenever you want, I swear."

"That's a very kind gesture, but unnecessary - I have a job that pays well." Peter gestured to the sleek black car (of equal shine) 2 spaces away.

"I didn't know it paid _that_ well."

"You'd be surprised. They've got to pay for the upkeep of all Tony's equipment somehow, and they can't give him _all_ the money."

"I didn't even know that. Never thought to ask."

"You didn't need to. In under 6 months I've bought 2 cars and can afford to take you shopping."

"You've not bought anything in 6 months?"

"Didn't need to - we've all been recovering from Volt and working and Coulson has made me inundated with paperwork because he knows I'm too scared of Fury not to do it."

"You know whatever I get you for your birthday will be a disappointment."

"No it won't. You're good at presents - look at what you got Steve; he was thrilled."

"I tricked him into picking it."

"And it's that kind of sly trickery that makes you a good present picker. Why do you think I drove past the garage so much?"

"You're as sly as I am."

"I am. Are you driving or shall I?"

"I will." Lacey squealed, excited. Peter opened the door of the driver’s side and she climbed in. He went round the other side and they drove to the shopping centre Lacey liked.

Peter only had 2 shops in mind that they had to go to but the rest was up to Lacey. They went to Peter's shop first. It was a dress shop that he knew sold beautiful dresses - he helped Lacey pick three and then went to try them on. He waited outside while she tried the first one on.

"Can I see?" He asked.

"Just a second." She replied, opening the door and showing Peter. It was a floor-length dress, a turquoise blue in colour - it hugged her waist and swam to the ground in its floaty chiffon material. He put his hands over his crotch and smiled.

"Are you trying to turn me on?"

"I never _try_."

"You look beautiful."

"You've not even seen the other two."

"This one's my favourite."

"I'll get this one then." The dress was paid for and they went to Peter's next choice of shop - a tuxedo shop.

A salesman jumped on them as soon as they walked through the door, offering to help Peter choose the perfect suit.

He gave him a number of different shirts, vests and blazer's to make up the three-piece suit and Peter requested a tie in the colour of Lacey's dress. The man went to find the tie while Peter tried on the suits.

"These vests aren't comfortable." Peter whined.

"Formal clothes aren't meant to be comfortable - have you tried walking in heels?"

"I'll wear heels if you wear a three-piece suit."

"I know who comes off worse in that deal. Can I see now?"

Peter opened the changing room door - he was wearing a white shirt and a crisp black blazer and he looked great.

"I think it looks better without the vest." Lacey agreed.

"I don't look stupid do I?"

"You look very handsome. Why are we buying party gear?"

"It's a really nice restaurant I'm taking you to - we have to look the part."

"Even with the matching tie and dress?"

"Even with the matching tie and dress." Peter paid for the suit and they left the shop. They wondered round the shopping complex for an hour or two, breaking for lunch at Subway and continuing, leaving and returning to the Avengers Tower at about 3.

Everyone was waiting in the living room with presents.

“How did you contain Clint for this long?” Lacey laughed.

“He’s been bouncing off the walls all day.” Tony glared; Lacey knew who he’d been left with.

“I’m excited.” Clint was beaming.

“Shall I open yours first?” Lacey offered and Clint jumped up to hand it to her. It was a fairly small rectangular package and Lacey opened it carefully as everyone else began to produce presents from various hiding spots around the room.

Without the packaging, Clint’s present was merely a white cardboard box. Lacey opened it and tipped the contents out – it was a compactable bow. She opened it up in the way she’d seen Clint do it and examined it in detail.

“Clint, it’s beautiful.”

“I designed it myself.”

“Did you make it?”

“No.” Clint blushed.

“I did.” Tony took credit where credit was due. “But Clint did all the designing.” He gave it too.

“Thanks Clint.” Lacey lovingly packed it away and put it back in the box. She looked at the pile of presents on the table and picked up the one closest to her.

“That’s from me.” Bruce smiled. Lacey opened the gift with the same care and concentration she gave Clint’s present. It was a pile of CDs, Lacey recognised some of the covers from Bruce’s collection. The post-it note on the top said ‘ _Put it in your laptop – thought you’d appreciate it’_.

“Thanks Bruce.” She smiled. Whatever the CD really contained was something Bruce had created himself. He knew she would truly appreciate them till later, but she placed them carefully next to the bow box on the table.

Next she picked up the tiny cylindrical package. It took seconds to unwrap the tiny gold lipstick, clearly from Natasha. But Lacey knew Natasha wouldn’t give something so simple without an explanation.

“I got it on one of my last missions in Russia before I was drafted in to join the Avengers. But it’s not my colour.” Natasha shrugged. “It’s handmade with crushed rose petals from a secret recipe – cost me far more than it was worth. But it’ll suit you perfectly.”

“Thanks Nat – it’s great.”

“Now, please open my gift.” Thor instructed, handing over his distinctly pan shaped present. Lacey took off the packaging and revealed the pan, destined for many a pancake. But the bowl wasn’t empty – there were loads of thread bracelets. “Pepper showed me how to make these – they symbolise friendship and union. I made them myself.” Thor explained proudly. Lacey had to admit they were well made, even if there were far too many to ever fit on her wrists in one go, but enough to last her for years. She took one made of sea green threads and tried to tie it round her wrist, Peter intervened and did it for her when she proved unable to do it herself.

“I love it, Thor, thanks.”

“I am glad you think so highly of our friendship.”

“This one’s from Phil.” Steve chucked the rectangular box at Lacey and she caught it, removing the packaging and roaring with laughter when she saw the contents. She showed the box to the others and they laughed too, Tony grabbed the box and shoved it in Steve’s face.

“I can see the likeness.”

“Only Coulson could get you a Captain America doll and it _not_ be a prank.” Clint laughed.

“My turn next,” Tony pushed his present along the table in front of Lacey.  She opened the box and pulled out a small handheld replica helicarrier that Tony had clearly made and painted himself.

“Err… Dad… I can see a real helicarrier on the roof…”

“Damn it, really? I’ll just take this one back then.” Tony made a move for it, Lacey pulled it from his grasp, catching his entertained smile.

“What does it to?”

“Find out.”

Lacey turned the thing over in her hands, examining each crevice to look for the thing that made the little model different. On the underside of the model there was a small switch. She flicked it and the top of the helicarrier opened up; there were 4 main switches, each labelled with their purpose – floor plan, weapon, distress, universe.

She pressed the floor plan button and a hologram screen burst from the top and turned the room blue. Lacey didn’t recognise the schematics. She knew all the schematics for every floor or this building, but this was new to her.

“It’s a detailed floor plan of the helicarrier. If you go on a mission I don’t want you to get lost.”

“You think I could go on a mission?”

“Totally. And I trust you with those floor plans. Not that they’re top secret.”

“You trust me that much?”

“Of course I do.” Tony smiled. Lacey pressed the button and the floor plan disappeared. The distress button probably sent a message to all of the Avengers pagers, but she didn’t want to deal with all that kind of fuss.

“What does the weapon button do?”

“There’s a kick-ass gun hidden in there.”

Lacey tossed the thing between her hands, it fitted comfortably in her palm. “This?”

“A hand gun, but a gun none the less. Lacey, _I_ designed it – you know it’s going to pack a punch.” Tony reassured her.

“And the universe button?”

“You can’t imagine how many times we need reassuring what universe we’re in.” Tony shrugged.

“This is great Dad.”

“I’m glad you like it.”

“And here’s mine.” Steve pushed the last, large photo-frame sized present towards Lacey. She gently pulled the tape from the wrapping and it fell away to leave the frame, and the drawing her Papa had been working on for the past 4 weeks.

“Papa, it’s beautiful.” Lacey was lost for words. The drawing had her and Peter in the middle, Tony and Steve either side of them, Pepper and Natasha, Clint and Bruce, Thor, Coulson and Fury, all of them drawn in great detail with precise accuracy. Steve had signed and dated it with the date he’d finished. He’d given the piece a title.

‘ _Family_ ’.

“I know we might not be what your average person would call a family, but we’re the closest thing to it in here.” Steve explained.

“We’re the furthest thing from ‘average’.” Bruce laughed.

“But we are family.” Tony agreed. Lacey stood and pulled Steve to his feet, wrapping her arms around Steve’s neck.

“Papa, I love it. Thank you.” She whispered.

“Let’s make a rule Steve doesn’t draw presents again, it makes the rest look rubbish.” Clint sighed.

“No, no, I still love all the other presents, I swear, but this is, thanks Pop.” Lacey turned to the others but looked at the picture again, her finger settling on the perfect colour of Tony’s arc reactor. “Thanks guys, these are all great.” Lacey admired the presents scattered on the table in front of her.

“What time is your dinner booked, Tony?” Natasha asked.

“6:30.”

“We’re all going?” Lacey asked.

“Just you, me, Peter, Papa and Mom.” Tony answered.

“Oh, okay.” She shrugged, surprised – she thought it was just her and Peter but didn’t mind. “I’m going to go get changed.”

“You’ve got 2 hours…” Steve added.

“I don’t know how I’ll do it.” Lacey sighed melodramatically.

“I’ll help.” Natasha jumped up.

“And me.” Pepper added.

“And we don’t disturb them for the next 2 hours.” Bruce mused, standing and taking his empty mug through to the kitchen. The girls disappeared upstairs not to be seen until they were due to leave.

.

The restaurant was busy, but the table of five were content eating, chatting and celebrating Lacey’s day.

“Okay, last present of the day. From me at least.” Peter announced.

“You got me a car, you took me shopping and you planned this whole day – I’m not going to accept anything else you give me.” Lacey pushed the box in his hands away.

“Lacey,” Peter held her gaze. “Just take it.” He pushed the box into her hands but she wouldn’t grip it. Peter stopped giving it to her and held it in front of her, opening it for her.

“Peter, that’s beautiful.” She took the box from his hands and he smiled.

“I picked it all by myself.”

Lacey showed the beautiful bracelet to her Mom – it was a silver chain with a heart pendant on it; the simple kind of jewellery Peter knew she loved.

“Thank you.” Lacey leaned over and kissed his cheek, regardless of the fact they were in the middle of a restaurant and people were starting to stare. Peter took it out the box and put it on the same wrist as he’d tied Thor’s friendship bracelet. “I love it.”

.

“Where are you taking me?” Lacey squealed, expecting to be allowed to go to bed when they got home – it was nearing 11pm and she wanted to be alone with Peter.

“It won’t take long, I promise.” Peter laughed. Steve and Pepper had been allowed to go to bed and Peter and Tony were taking Lacey to somewhere that wasn’t her bed. They were taking her to the workshop.

“Last present from me, I don’t know what your Mom’s got up her sleeve.”

“She gave me a necklace and some earrings earlier Dad, I’m wearing them.”

“Either way – here.” Tony handed her a huge cuboid shaped present. It was about as heavy as the clothes catalogues she received every month but clearly not one, as it was from her _Dad_.

“What do you have to do with this?” She asked Peter.

“Just open it!” Both of them were smiling with an unreasoned joy that would clearly be explained by the present. Lacey took off the paper, letting it fall to the floor when she saw the writing on the front of the folder, crammed full of paper frayed at the edged.

“Dad, this says Heart Project.”

“I know.”

“How-”

“It’s been 3 years of work. I roped Peter in after the Volt incident – we’ve been working and trialling it for 6 months and it works. Your Mom’s agreed to it, Bruce is willing to do it, Papa approves – your heart is ready and waiting for you.”

“How does it work?”

“It creates a physical barrier over the hole, the electromagnet stops the blood from each ventricle entering the other but- it’s complicated, I’ve had a drink and I’m tired, can we just leave it at ‘it works’?” Tony sighed.

“So it actually penetrates the heart?”

“Yes. But Bruce has been studying it with us and he understands and I’m employing the best heart surgeons in the country to come and assist him and it’s perfectly safe and ready for you, if you want it.”

“It’ll be like an arc reactor but for _my_ heart?”

“Yeah.” Tony smiled. Lacey dumped the folder on the worktop and threw her arms round Tony’s neck.

“Ohmigosh thank you, thank you, thank you! Dad this is great, this is so perfect. You’ve never worked on anything that hasn’t been finished in 6 months! 3 years is insane, oh my gosh Dad thank you, this is, I can’t even explain how happy I am.” Lacey rambled.

“So I should confirm next week then?”

“Yes, yes please.” Lacey beamed almost as wide as Peter.

“I’m glad you like it. Now go have a good time with Peter. I _know_ that was part of the plan!”

“I love you, Dad.” Lacey called over her shoulder as her and Peter walked away.

.

“Lace, can you wait a minute?” Pepper stopped them on their floor. Peter carried on into Lacey’s room, leaving mother and daughter in peace. “I wanted to give you this.” Pepper handed Lacey a small box.

Lacey opened it and saw a gold ring with a green jewel, a little battered but beautiful. “My grandmother gave it to me when I was 21. I was going to wait but I couldn’t. Happy birthday sweetheart.”

“Mom, it’s- I- thank you. Thank you for a great day.”

“Sleep well sweetheart.”

“Night Mom.”


	20. Chapter 20

“Is she still out?”

“It was major heart surgery Tony; of course she’s still out.”

“Is it working?”

“She’s not rejecting it and that was our first worry.”

“She’s passed the basic tests?”

“Yes – still beating normally, breathing clearer, and still pumping blood correctly.”

“Thanks Bruce.”

“It’s fine, Tony.”

“When will she come round?”

“Not till tomorrow morning at least. Go sleep, Tony.” Bruce suggested, switching off the light as he left, the light now installed in Lacey’s chest illuminating the room. Tony looked down at his own heart, shining through his shirt.

“I pray to God no one tries to take yours Lace.”

.

Bruce got up early the next morning – Lacey should come round soon and he didn’t want her to be alone with Tony; he’d terrify her.

But Lacey was gone. Bruce sighed.

"JARVIS?"

"She's in the gym with Captain Rogers, sir."

"Why?"

"She left about half an hour ago Sir."

Bruce started jogging up to the gym, finding Steve and Lacey sparring and Thor observing.

"You just need to find his weakest spot Lacey." Thor instructed.

"I know his weak spot, but Dad's not here." Lacey argued, continuing to spar with Steve, deflecting and inflicting punches.

"Find his fighting weak spot - I know he has a bad-"

"Shut up Thor!" Steve called. "If you aim for my groin I'll,"

"You'll what?" Lacey smirked. The other Avengers were joining them; hearing about the fight, more interested in the fact Lacey was keeping up.

"I'll make you do 500 press-ups."

"Easy." Lacey fought with a new found strength - proving she was capable of 500 press-ups, even more so now.

"There's a scar between his left shoulder and his neck, Lace." Natasha called to her, all 6 of the remaining Avengers were surrounding the ring and Pepper was hovering near the door.

Lacey started making Steve use his left arm, weakening him a little and managing to slam a poised hand exactly on the scar, bringing Steve to his knees.

Everyone began to clap and Lacey took a bow, milking her victory for everything she could. Steve stood and held his hand out to her, she shook it and beamed.

"First real fight with Pops." She stated.

"You did well. I can, I can see a difference." Steve was actually breathless.

"I'm next." Clint jumped into the ring, slapping Steve on the shoulder and preparing for the fight.

"I could almost beat you before Barton."

"I can still get you on your back Potts."

They started sparring, furious and fast punches flying, Clint was starting to wear down, timing his rushed breathing between each punch.

"You're getting rusty old man." Lacey teased, kicking Clint behind the knee and sending him to the ground. "So who's on their back now?"

"You're getting good Lace. Banner, you’re next." Clint instructed.

“No way I’m fighting her.” Bruce resisted.

“C’mon!” Clint teased.

“I’m not letting her fight the Hulk!”

“I don’t want to!” Lacey interjected.

“Then I believe it’s time for me to experience Lacey’s new fighting skills.” Thor climbed over the ropes and prepared himself. “And I won’t use Mjolnir – just to make it fair.” The God of Thunder smiled.

“I’m not sure I’m prepared to fight a wall of muscle.” Lacey admitted; she was still a little bit scared of Thor. She tugged on the friendship bracelet on her wrist to try and soften him up – she knew he’d notice.

“You will be fine.” Thor smiled and they engaged. Lacey didn’t even try hitting Thor – a punch from her to him would be like a feather brushing his skin, she merely defended her face, taking a few hits in the ribs. She dared to aim a kick at his hip but he caught her leg and flipped her over backwards – she landed flat on her stomach with a thump.

No one said a word.

“Y’alright Lace?” Clint asked.

“Yeah.” She pushed herself back to her feet. “Round two?” She asked Thor, smirking.

“Not today.” Tony disregarded the idea, he was the next to climb into the ring.

"Dad, do you really want to do this?" Lacey asked.

"Hell yes." Tony smirked, initiating the contact. They fought long and hard, Tony was stronger than Lacey recalled without the suit on. "I've been doing a little bit of training with your Papa."

"You've built up some secret muscle Dad."

"Secret? I thought I was losing weight?"

"There's only so much training you can do Dad." Lacey teased. Lacey seemed to conjure some sort of darkness in her hands and fired them at Tony, knocking him flat on his back. The darkness flew back to Lacey’s hands then retreated to the dark corners of the room.

When he got his breath back he stood and faced her. "What the hell was that?"

"I should probably have told you about that, shouldn't I?"

"What is it?"

"Dark magic!" Thor suggested.

"Only in its colour Thor - they're shadows. It's something I discovered this morning."

"How did you get it?" Tony asked.

"It's got to be something to do with mutation hasn't it?" Lacey asked.

"You don't know either; superb." Tony rolled his eyes.

"Shall we head back to medical, Miss Potts?" Bruce invited her out the ring.

“Do I have to?” She whined, climbing out the ring while Tony held up the ropes.

“Yes – go.” He instructed, with intent to make a video call with the directors of Xavier’s School for Gifted Children or whatever the damn place was called.

Peter followed Lacey and Bruce and the others dispersed – either going to get a late breakfast or remaining in the gym to train.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Peter asked Lacey, they walked 10 paces behind Bruce.

“I didn’t get the chance! I just figured it out as Papa came in, I didn’t have time.”

“Why’s it only showed up now?”

“Maybe it needed my heart to be in one piece, however vaguely it is. Maybe it needed me to be stronger. Or maybe I’m just a late bloomer.”

“You won’t go over to the X-Men, will you?”

“They wouldn’t want me – they’ve got enough kids with potential as it is. I’m more use here. And there’s something else I need to tell you anyway.”

“What?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

“Promise?”

“I promise! Go find my Dad and calm him down for me – this is the last thing he wanted for me, ever.”

“Lace-”

“Please? I won’t be long – they’ll take some DNA and Bruce will take it back to the lab. Just go.” Lacey pushed him away and he went without much objection. She let Bruce take the requested blood and sat idly while he examined it.

“It’s genetic. As far as I’m aware, you’re immune system and healing abilities are unchanged, so no standing in front of a gun and asking Clint to shoot you.”

“Anything else?”

“You’re aging has slowed, will stop soon enough. I can’t tell anything else – we’ll learn as you do.”

“How can I train with something no one knows about?”

“You’ll learn as you train, you’re an intelligent girl Lacey, you’ll do it. You figured out how to build a car engine in 10 minutes from one of Tony’s schematics.”

“Can I go now?”

“I thought genetics was your thing?”

“Until it become part of me so did I – now I’m not interested.”

Lacey walked away without Bruce’s permission. Bruce had only ever seen one occurrence of someone being _so_ scared of themselves and what they’d become, and that was him. He wanted to talk to her, but Steve was already there.

“Lacey, are you alright?” He asked.

“Fine. Why wouldn’t I be? I’ve made the God of Thunder terrified of me with my ‘dark magic’.” She sulked, sitting out on the roof, trying to get some fresh air but the baking July sun was only making her more agitated.

“Thor’s not scared of you Lacey; your powers aren’t dark or evil.”

“How do you know? How do you know I’m not going to kill you all in your sleep and run away with the helicarrier and the plans Dad gave me last week?”

“Just because you’ve mutated doesn’t mean you’ve changed.”

“I feel different.”

“If it’s to do with your heart-”

“It’s not.” Lacey snapped.

“Lace, I can’t work with you if you’re going to be rude.”

“Don’t then.” Lacey barked, melting into the shadows on the astronomy tower and rising up through the shaded side, reappearing at the top and sitting with her knees hugged to her chest. Steve was amazed – that building was glass and she’d only just got her powers – how was she even balancing on the roof?

“Lace, please come down? Do you want to come down to the workshop and talk?” Steve offered. He knew she felt most comfortable in there, especially with the amount of time she’d spent making her costume with Tony.

“I want to be on my own.”

“What happened? You were thrilled about everything this morning – the heart, the Avengers, even the powers to an extent; what changed?”

“Dad flipped out, that’s what happened.”

“Dad always flips out. Give him time and he’ll understand and appreciate – he doesn’t like unscheduled change. Especially when it might endanger your safety.”

“He’s scared I’ll get kidnapped again, because I can’t defend myself.”

“You’re more likely to be kidnapped by sitting on curved glass roof of the astronomy tower.” Steve was getting impatient. “Lacey, get down here before I have to punish you.” He used his ‘strict father’ voice for emphasis.

“No.”

“Don’t make me angry.”

“Don’t be a prick.”

“Lacey!” Steve shouted, angry. “I will smash this whole tower and bring you down with it if I have to.”

Lacey rolled her eyes and dissolved into a shadow. Steve couldn’t pin point her. He marched back inside.

“JARVIS?”

“I don’t know where she’s gone Captain Rogers.”

“Did she tell you to say that?”

“I can’t track what has no physical form, sir.”

“Tell Tony I’m on my way.”

.

“Captain Rogers is on his way sir and he isn’t best pleased.”

“Right, okay. Logan are you sure you can’t do anything? I know you’re busy – we could come to you! Hey, that’s not necessary. I was in the middle of a big project! It was ‘that important’! I didn’t sleep for a week. Okay, I’ll give her your number.” Tony hung up just as Steve burst in – he was furious; his fists were clenched, his eyebrows were low over his eyes and Tony had never seen his bottom jaw jutted so far forward.

“What’s wrong?”

“She’s related to _you_ that’s what’s wrong! She’s so god-damn stubborn and arrogant she won’t accept help when she so clearly needs it. The power has gone straight to her head; she has no respect for her elders!”

“Whoa, whoa, calm down sunshine. What did she say?” Tony asked.

“She, she,” Steve stammered.

“Let’s sit down.” Tony suggested. “And not blame my DNA for this.” He added.

“She’s upset because you flipped out. Then she started being rude.”

“I didn’t flip out!”

“You sent her off to medical and stormed off down here.”

“That is not a rare occurrence – I do that with you after every mission.”

“ _I_ know it’s because you care – she sees it as not letting go of our little girl.”

“ _My_ little girl, she’s your Princess remember? We made this agreement.”

“You know what I meant.”

“Steve, give her half an hour to think then she’ll talk. She sent Peter down here to make sure I was okay.”

“You sure?”

“Yes. Don’t worry your pretty little head about it.” Tony smirked, kissing Steve’s cheek.

“Thanks Tony.”

“Be a doll and go get me a doughnut from the kitchen? Coulson brought in a fresh batch this morning.” Tony asked.

“I’ll be back in 10.” Steve smiled, leaving the workshop.

“You can come out now.” Tony called. Lacey materialised and went and sat on the couch.

“How’d you know I was here?”

“Even a shadow can’t shut _that_ door quietly. Do me a favour and be nice to your Papa? He was only trying to help.”

“I don’t need help.”

“That’s why we come down here every Sunday after lunch to talk about nightmares, Volt and cry.” Tony replied sarcastically.

“Most of the crying is you, Dad.”

“I know. What did you say to him?”

“I called him a prick.”

“Harsh.”

“He threatened to smash the astronomy tower with me on top!”

“Empty threat – it would break Bruce’s heart if that thing was destroyed.”

“Not the point.”

“Just tell him you need him and hug it out.”

“But I don’t need him!”

“That’s a horrible thing to say.”

“I don’t want a mutation.”

“Perfect! Tell him that, now if you don’t mind; I’m busy. We have a new Avenger to prep for.”

“Who?”

“You, dumbass.”

“Here are the doughnuts. Oh, Lacey.” Steve tensed again.

“I’m sorry, Papa. I shouldn’t have been so rude and I shouldn’t have made you angry. I just don’t want this mutation.” She’d lied to her Papa this way before, but it got him off her back if nothing else.

“Sweetheart, it’s okay.” Steve softened, putting the doughnuts on the coffee table and sitting opposite Lacey on the couch.

“It’s not – I can’t get rid of it and I can feel it, maybe it is dark magic; changing me. I’d have never have said those things to you under any other circumstances.”

“You’d say them to me.” Tony scoffed. He was ignored.

“You’re stressed, it’s not hard to see that all these changes are freaking you out a bit but they’re not changing you.”

“What if they are?”

“We deal with it – talk it out or maybe turn to science. We’d never abandon you over something you can’t control.”

“Am I going to have to meet with this Wolverine guy?”

“I will tell him you called him that, ‘this Wolverine guy’, I’m sure he’ll be thrilled.” Tony laughed. He was ignored again.

“You don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with.” Steve continued.

“Damn brat is ‘too busy’ anyway.” Tony growled.

“Are more people going to want to kidnap me now?”

“No, you’re too strong.”

“I believe I ordered a doughnut, not a therapy session on my couch.” Tony grabbed a doughnut and took a huge bite as he sat between Steve and Lacey, looking from one to the other. “Better?”

Steve smiled. “Yeah.”

“Excuse me, but Ms Potts requires your presence upstairs.” JARVIS interrupted.

“To whom are you speaking, JARVIS?” Tony asked.

“All of you.”

They all headed downstairs with mutterings of ‘what did we do?’, ‘are we in trouble?’ and ‘she’s probably mad’.

“It’ll be nice that it’s not just me she’s shouting at.” Tony smiled.

“Normally it’s Clint and you’re getting an earful from Fury. Who’re you more scared of?” Steve asked. Tony and Lacey considered it for a moment.

“Mom.”

“Pepper.”

“Definitely.”

Steve chuckled.

They knocked on Pepper’s door and opened it; Pepper and her PA Phoebe were chatting.

“Yes, great, hi – we need to know what we can and can’t release to the press.” Pepper announced. All 3 visibly relaxed; they weren’t in trouble.

Phoebe was sitting ready and waiting with a notepad and pen.

“Okay, if I do this, I want to do it anonymously.” Lacey started.

“Why?” Phoebe asked, taking charge of what she called ‘the interview’.

“Otherwise I have to explain who I am, and that would be too much hassle for Dad and Pops.”

“You could just say your biolog-”

“That’s an insult to my Papa; I’m not leaving him out of this.”

Steve’s heard swelled; he’d never been so proud. Tony grabbed his hand subtly and they continued to listen.

“What about a name?”

“I don’t know. That’s not been my priority. I need to tell you guys something else anyway.” Lacey ignored Phoebe.

“What?” Steve asked, suddenly worried again.

“It’s not a _bad_ thing; it’s just a kind of _big_ thing. Not that big! Smaller than the shadows thing but bigger than the-”

“Lace, just tell us.” Tony snapped.

“I’ve got a place at Cambridge University studying business and economics.”

“Why?” Steve asked.

“It was the best course.”

“Why business and economics?” Tony seemed repulsed.

“Anything I want to know about technology and mechanics I can get from you Dad, anything I _want_ to know about history I can get from Papa, everything else Google can teach me – business is something I’m interested in. Maybe I can help run a branch of Stark Industries or something.”

“Cambridge, England?” Pepper questioned.

“Yes.”

“How do you intend to get there?” Tony asked.

“I’m not taking a jet Dad – I want to fit in there, I don’t want to be known for flying in a plane with ‘Stark’ on the side.”

“Flying there and back every semester is going to cost, honey.” Pepper added.

“I was going to stay out there for the three years. I’ve not spent anything for the best part of two years – I can afford the trip there, the trip back and an apartment. I’ll get a job while I’m out there; money’s not an issue.”

“What is an issue then?” Steve asked.

“I’m going, regardless, but I don’t want to leave on bad terms.”

“When do you leave?” Tony asked.

“Mid-September.”

“You have a month and a half to convince me.” Tony left. They all gawped as his retreating figure through the open door.

“Pop!” Lacey whined.

“I’ll work on him.” Steve promised.

“What do you think Papa?”

“I’m really proud of you sweetheart. I’m- I just don’t think you should have had to do it on your own. To your Dad, you’re still the little baby girl with his eyes. Such beautiful eyes.” Steve admitted, going to follow Tony.

Lacey looked between Phoebe and Pepper – not sure what she was meant to do next. She looked down at the notes in Phoebe’s hand.

“No mention of Avengers until I get back. Three years, then I’ll do it.” She promised, following her fathers’ path and going to find Peter – she had to tell him before he found out from Steve or Tony; he wouldn’t take it well.

She was going to Cambridge, and she had a month and a half to convince her family it was the right thing to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first chapter of the next instalment will be posted on October 1st :) thanks for reading xx


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